


Roll up for the Magical Mysterio Tour (It's Dying to Take You Away)

by Mercy_Rhyne



Series: The Fool on the Hill [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Can you believe I had to make my own relationship tags for this smh, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, F/M, He's also so very gay, I did have a lot of fun with those interactions tho, M/M, Mind Games, Other, Quentin Beck Being a Jerk, Roman tries his best, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Which is very valid of him tbh, but he's an idiot, it's off screen though, though that's just canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:49:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 62,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25465780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercy_Rhyne/pseuds/Mercy_Rhyne
Summary: It has been almost a year since The Battle of Earth. Almost two years since Thanos won. Since the Avengers lost. Life has slowly returned to how it used to be, but things will never be the same.Roman had hoped that a school trip to Europe was the perfect way to distract himself from… everything. But when their trip is rudely interrupted by a monster attack, Roman needs to team up with his friend Peter and the mysterious Quentin Beck to save the world once again. However, not everything is what it seems.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Everyone, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Remus Sanders & Michelle Jones, Remus Sanders & Peter Parker, Roman Sanders & Peter Parker
Series: The Fool on the Hill [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1844959
Comments: 15
Kudos: 11
Collections: Storytime! 2020





	1. PROLOGUE

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Mention of death, mentions of injury

It had been a year by now. A full year since Roman had last seen his two best friends. A full year since he last saw his parents. A full year since he last saw his sister. And now, he finally had the chance to see them again. Just the thought seemed… insane. After everything that had happened in the last year, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to see them without breaking down. No, he  _ knew  _ he couldn’t see them without breaking down. 

He was still sore from the battle that had taken place only one day ago. He was still bruised and hurt. His mind was still unable to comprehend that he had actually travelled back in time. And God… he still couldn’t believe that Tony was dead. 

The day after the battle Happy took him back home, along with Remus and Virgil — and their dog, Stitch, of course, let’s not forget him. It was weird to… go back. Back home, even though that felt weird saying that. It had been a year since they were there. He wondered what it looked like now. Tony had made sure that the apartment wasn’t sold in their absence, since Roman always kept the hope that things would be okay, and he liked the idea of being able to go back to their apartment if he wanted to. He hadn’t been back in a year, but… it was the thought that mattered, right? 

They got to Virgil’s apartment first. After a tight hug from Roman and a promise to see him tomorrow, when they’d meet up with their two other friends again, he got out, grabbing his bags out of the trunk. Remus gave a single wave, but since he was sat on the other side of the car, there wasn’t much he could do. And he wasn’t going to go out of his way to hug Virgil or anything. They couldn’t start thinking that he actually cared, after all. 

The next stop was the Prince residence. Roman felt a twinge of familiarity when he looked at the apartment block. The city was still a giant mess, and it would take some time before everything was back to normal — if things would ever go back to normal to begin with. But seeing that familiar building… it gave him a lot of emotions. 

The twins got out of the car, Roman grabbing Stitch’s leash. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel had been lounging on their laps for most of the trip, mostly sleeping. It seemed as if he understood that he needed to be calm for a bit. He understood that there was a lot going on and the humans in the car had too much on their mind to play with him. There wasn’t any space for that anyways. 

When they were all outside, Roman closed the door as Remus opened the trunk to get out their luggage. Roman tried to reach for his own bags, but his brother hit his hand away. 

“What’s that for?” the older of the two asked, frowning at his brother.

“You’re already hurt, you dipshit,” Remus reasoned as he picked up the bags in the trunk. “I got this.”

Roman opened his mouth to protest, but there wasn’t much he could say. He couldn’t deny that he’d gotten hurt in the fight. He had bruised a number of ribs, as well as one of his wrists. And he had multiple scrapes, small cuts and slices, and other injuries. His moms would have a heart attack when they saw him. 

“Fine,” he huffed grudgingly. He couldn’t dispute this, no matter how hard he tried. Remus was just as stubborn as he was, so fighting wouldn’t get him anywhere.

Just before closing the door, Roman leaned forwards to look into the car. “Thanks, Happy,” he called out to the driver. 

Happy responded with a smile and a quick wave as Roman closed the door to the trunk.

The twins walked into the apartment block, going up the stairs to the first floor. Roman still had a key, so he opened the door while Remus dragged in all the luggage. It felt unfair, but hey… he had Stitch’s leash. That was just as important, right? 

Roman unlocked the door and looked back at his twin to make sure he was okay. He seemed to be managing the weight of the luggage just fine, so the other turned back and opened the door. 

“We’re back,” he called out as he stepped inside, making room for his brother to follow. His heart was pounding in his chest. He hadn’t been back here in a year. He hadn’t sene his family in a  _ year _ . He couldn’t wait and yet, he was strangely nervous. As if anything might have changed in their absence.

One of their mothers, Megan, was in the kitchen, making coffee. As soon as the door opened, she stopped what she was doing to look at her two sons, a bright grin forming on her face. Worry shone through when she noticed Roman’s state, but she didn’t let that stop her excitement at seeing her sons again. Even though, to her, it had only been a day since she saw them, she had hear what happened a year ago. It was all the news was talking about, and she was just happy to see her boys were okay. 

“I’m so glad to see you guys,” she cooed, hugging Roman tightly. He winced slightly but didn’t show it, too happy to see his mother again. He felt tears burning in his eyes already, overwhelmed with emotions. Megan eventually pulled away, looking at Roman with her hands on his shoulders. “What happened to you?”

“Long story,” Roman said. “I… I will explain later.”

Megan gave him a look for just a second longer, but she nodded and looked at Remus with a smile, hugging him just as tightly. Remus pretended to be annoyed with the hug, but he really wasn’t. After all, it had been a long year for him as well. 

Their other mom, Rachel, came out of one of the bedrooms along with Sophie, their seven-year old sister. Sophie immediately ran at Roman at top speed, flinging herself at him. He huffed slightly as he hugged her. It really did hurt, but he was so happy about seeing his family again that he didn’t even care. Right now, he just wanted to hug them and know they were there. 

“I’m so happy to see you, Soph,” he muttered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “It’s been a while.”

For him, it had been far longer than it had been for the rest of his family (minus Remus that is), but they were all more than relieved to see the twins regardless. Both of them hugged their mothers and greeted them happily. 

“I’m so glad to see you two again,” Rachel grinned as she ruffled Remus’ hair, gaining a grunt and frown out of him. “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m good,” Remus huffed as he smoothed his hair out again. “ _ Roman  _ on the other hand, got himself injured like an idiot by-”

Roman quickly moved over to his twin and covered his mouth before he could say anything else. He didn’t know what Remus was going to say, but he didn’t want to risk exposing himself because of his brother being an idiot. Yes, he was going to have to talk to his moms about… this situation, no matter what. There was too much going on to ignore or deny. But he wanted to be the one to mention it, not his idiot brother.

“I’m much better now,” he quickly said. “But… I do have some things I need to talk about so we- we might wanna… sit down.”

The five of them quickly moved to the couch, Megan getting a drink for every one of them. There was a bit of smalltalk, but it was clear that there were a few questions burning in the air. What happened over the past year? How have they been? Why did Roman look like he was hit by a truck? 

Well, like he said… it was a long story. There was so much he had to explain, but he knew it was coming.

Because here’s the deal. Roman was one of the many heroes going around New York City. Creativity, was his name. On top of the powers of telekinesis and object creation, he was a good sword fighter — like… ‘national champion’ levels of good — which he also used in his attempts to make the city a safer place. 

About a year ago, aliens invaded the city. Again. Roman had seen the spaceship from his classroom and without hesitation, threw himself at it. Which ended up with him in space, fighting a psycho alien who wanted to kill half of the universe, and failing. The Avengers — which Roman was apparently a part of now — tried to get everyone back, but it seemed in vain. Along with Remus and Virgil, the only people close to Roman that had survived the snap, he moved in with Tony and Pepper. 

Until a moment, just a few weeks ago, an opportunity arose. Scott Lang, someone they thought dead, appeared out of nowhere. It was his idea to try time travel to get all the stones they needed to get everyone back that made it possible. Not long after, Tony figured out the secret to time travel and before Roman knew it… they travelled back in time. Back to New York in 2012 to get the Infinity Stones. A few of them, at least. 

After getting all the stones back to their time, they managed to bring back everyone that had been killed a year ago. Immediately after that, though, past-Thanos came back to kick their asses once more. They won, but… Tony died. And Roman sustained multiple injuries in the battle, as well. Hence the look. 

After Roman had told this entire story, supported by his brother, the room fell quiet for a little bit. All of this was very much new information. Especially the fact that Roman was a superhero and that he’d fought in the battle to save pretty much their entire universe… that was a lot to process. 

Roman made sure to tell them that, no matter what he did, he’d be careful, and he would almost always have someone on his side. During the previous two battles, it had been the other Avengers, and from now on, Spider-Man would be there for him as well. He and Peter had discussed things a little bit in the short while they had after the battle, and they had come to the conclusion that it would be good to team up. And it would be so much more fun, too. 

Of course, this didn’t calm all their nerves, but it was good knowing that Roman had someone on his team. The fact that this someone was a kid was a little less reassuring, but it was someone. There were people who knew what he was doing and could help him if he needed it. But nothing could ever stop them from worrying. Especially after what he told them about his encounters with Thanos, but Roman reassured them that he wasn’t planning on making things like that a regular thing. Not on a solo mission, anyways. 

That night, Roman slept in his own bed for the first time in a year. Without Virgil next to him. It was… weird. He’d gotten so used to having Virgil next to him that it had pretty much become commonplace for him. But now he’d have to get used to waking up alone again. 

The next day, Roman met up with his friends. For the first time in a year. He’d called them yesterday and even the day before that, but it had been a year since he  _ saw  _ them. Patton and Logan, that is. He’d seen Virgil every day for the past year. 

The four of them had decided to meet up in Flushing Meadows Park, not wanting to meet in anyone’s house for now. There was… too much chaos indoors. And I’m not trying to imply that there wasn’t any chaos outdoors. Quite the opposite; due to everyone returning all of a sudden, multiple people had lost their homes and they were scrambling to find a solution to this problem, but the teens could at least escape some of the chaos in the park. It seemed that a lot of people had this thought, as it was fairly crowded in the park. Luckily, it was big enough for all of them. 

For some reason, Roman felt his heart beating in his chest as he entered the park. Patton had sent a text to their group chat, telling them that he had arrived, along with a picture and his location, so the others would be able to find him easily. So all Roman had to do now, was follow the route planned out on his phone. 

Patton had claimed a place near Meadows Lake — unsurprisingly, because everyone knew he loved being able to look out over the water. There were small groups of people here and there, enjoying the company and talking excitedly. However, when he got near the location Roman saw on his phone, Roman already saw his friend sitting near the water, looking down at his phone. 

The hero locked his phone after cancelling the itinerary and made his way over to his friend, his heart going berserk inside his ribcage. 

As he saw a shadow approaching, Patton turned around. When his eyes met Roman’s, he immediately jumped up to hug his friend tightly. Roman flinched slightly as the pain flaring up in his ribs, but again, he couldn’t resist hugging his friend as close as he could. It was just so good to see him again. 

“Ro! I’m so happy to see you again,” he squealed. When he pulled away, he eyed his friend in worry. “What happened?”

Roman dismissed this concern with a shake of his head. “Big fight,” he just said as he sat down. “Like… every fucking superhero you’ve ever known was involved and even more. I’ll explain when the rest are here. Don’t feel like repeating myself.”

As Patton said down next to him, Roman realised just how great it was to see his friend again. To see his face, to hear him talk, to just… be here with him. 

“God, it’s so good to see you again,” he sighed, shifting around to try and find a position that would hurt his sore ribs the least. 

“You too, Ro,” Patton repeated, grabbing his friend’s hand for a second. Even though it felt like only a few days to him, the last time he saw Roman was when he ran out of the school to check out a suspicious spaceship hovering over the city. He’d been worried, not knowing what his friend would run into. Seeing he was alright was a relief to him, too. 

When Logan came in, he gave Roman and Patton a quick hug, but since both of them knew that he wasn’t too fond of hugs, they didn’t overdo it. 

Virgil was the last of them to arrive. Patton hugged him so tightly that it seemed like he’d never let go — the only one who was allowed to do something like that. Logan hugged him briefly and Roman gave him a grin, grabbing his hand as he sat down. They’d seen each other yesterday, so there was no need to hug each other extensively. 

“Oh, Logan,” Roman realised as he reached into the bag he had brought. “I have something for you.”

He grabbed a notebook Logan’s older brother Remy had given him when he’d run into him after the snap. It was a notebook with all the notes and sketches he had made for new tech he could maybe add to Roman’s suit. 

“I hope you don’t mind that we tried our hand at some of these,” he smiled as he held it out to Logan. “We were kinda thinking we couldn’t get you guys back, so…”

“Thank you,” Logan said with a small smile as he took the notebook in his hands. He completely disregarded the recond statement, which… was a real Logan move. Roman wasn’t surprised. Whatever was going on in that mind of his… was mysterious.

“So… what happened?” Patton asked with interest. He was dying to know what his friends had been through in the past year. 

For the second time in two days, Roman — and Virgil too, probably — explained everything that happened ever since he ran out of school to save the world. 

“Wait- you lived with Tony Stark?” Logan asked with wide eyes when they finished their tale, eliciting a smile from both Roman and Virgil. This was… a very in character response. As a huge nerd, and one of the smartest people Roman knew, even after meeting Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, of course Logan loved the man. He’d created so many amazing things and everything he did was so impressive, how could he not?

“If you promise not to kill me or faint, then yeah,” Roman teased with a smile, despite a slight twinge in his chest at the reminder that Tony had died. Logan glared at him, more because of this comment than because of the former discovery. This just elicited a small chuckle from Roman. He hadn’t realised exactly how much he missed moments like this. Just hanging out with his friends, messing around. Sure, he had missed them more than he ever thought possible, but he just realised that he missed them even more than he had previously thought. 

Roman flinched slightly, his ribs starting to ache more with him laughing. Of course, this immediately raised the concern of all three of his friends, but he brushed them off. He just got a paracetamol out of his bag, as well as a bottle of water, and took some of the medicine. He’d come prepared. 

“I’m fine,” he pressed. “Seriously. It’s just some bruises, I’ll get over it.” Patton looked at him in worry. “Promise. I’ve got a doctor on speed dial anyways.”

Next to him, Virgil groaned, being the only one who actually got the joke he was trying to make. “Do you mean that-” He made a vague gesture as he tried to think of the best way to phrase it. He knew there was a Doctor something Roman had met in the battle, but he just couldn’t think of his name. How... weird.

“Maybe,” he said with a sheepish smile before turning to his two remaining friends. “Sorry for that. I know it must be…  _ Strange  _ for you guys but-”

“Roman, I swear to God,” Virgil sighed in exasperation as he remembered the man’s name. He was dating an idiot. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Patton asked, looking between his friends in confusion. 

“There’s a guy named Doctor Strange,” Roman explained. “I fought with- or no, alongside him, is a better phrase I think. I was just… joking.”

“I figured as much,” Logan commented dryly, earning a half-hearted glare from his friend. 

“I don’t think he’s the kind of doctor to take care of bruised ribs anyways. Definitely not anymore.”

Logan narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking about something that Roman had said. “When you say Strange,” he said slowly. “Do you happen to mean Stephen Strange?”

Instead of responding immediately, Roman blinked once. “I- yeah,” he answered with a stammer. “How do you know him?”

“Are you serious?” Logan looked between his friends, hoping to find any trace of recognition in his friends’ eyes. Unfortunately, he did not seem to be able to do so. “Doctor Stephen Strange. Renowned neurosurgeon? He came up with a new laminectomy procedure?” 

None of the others seemed to know what Logan was talking about, much to his frustration. Something, he really couldn’t understand why he had befriended these guys. How could they not know  _ anything _ about Strange? Other than whatever Roman and Virgil seemed to know. 

“He’s a neurosurgeon?” Roman hummed softly, repeating the words in his head. He had thought that the guy looked familiar, but he blamed it on being one of  _ those  _ faces. But maybe that’s why. “Huh. I didn’t know.” 

“Clearly,” Logan deadpanned. “Although he’s a former neurosurgeon, technically. A car crash a few years back damaged his hands severely and he was forced to retire his job.”

Roman nodded. Now, that did sound familiar. He remembered hearing about an accident that severely fucked up some doctor’s hands. He just hadn’t remembered the poor guy’s name. Which was… strange. Literally. That was his name. Okay- enough name jokes.

“He can do magic just fine, though,” Roman muttered. Though he supposed magic and surgery were two different things so not being able to operate didn’t mean he wouldn’t be able to do magic, right? He didn’t know for sure, though. He wasn’t good at either of those things. 

The four of them continued to talk for a little bit, catching up and enjoyed each other’s presence. But eventually, it was time for them to go back home. Life went on and there was a lot still to take care of. Half the population coming back to life in the blink of an eye tended to mess with stuff, believe it or not. 

So the four of them said their goodbyes and promised to spend time together as quickly as they could, as a way of making up for the time they missed in this past year. Then, they all went their separate ways once more.


	2. CHAPTER ONE

It was a few weeks after everyone had come back that schools back started up. With everyone coming back after a year of being absent, there were quite some arrangements to be made, just to make sure everything ran smoothly again.

It was decided that everyone that had died in the snap would have to do the year all over again. Despite technically having survived, Virgil, Roman and Remus had made the decision to do the same — as had a lot of students at Midtown. After all, they hadn’t spent a lot of time at school ever since the snap. In the case of the three teens, it was mostly because they were too busy being at the Avengers Compound, trying to save the universe — in Roman’s case at least; Virgil and Remus were there, just not as actively involved in the rescue mission. And for the others… society had fallen into chaos after half the world just disappeared in the blink of an eye. Gaps had to be filled up, people moved away after losing their family, some people just couldn’t find the time to go back to school, struggling with picking up their regular life again. 

In that time, Roman had managed to contact Peter Parker. Spider-Man. Whatever. The two of them had met on the spaceship to Titan and they hit if off quite well. The two of them were quick to find out that they went to the same school, although Roman and his friends were in the year above Peter. After a brief discussion, the two decided that they wanted to actually get to know each other, and introduce their friends to each other. Especially Roman wanted to do this. He knew that his friends would love Peter, and besides, the two had decided that they would like to work together in their heroics as much as they could, and it would be useful for their friends to know who they were dealing with. Especially for Roman’s friends, who were very much involved with his hero-life. They had contributed as much to the current reputation behind Creativity as he himself. Peter seemed to be enthusiastic about this idea himself anyways. Roman was so clearly fond of his friends that he could barely resist this. Even if the idea of meeting them terrified him to some extent. 

So on the first day back, the teens had decided to meet up. Although Peter and Roman did most of the deciding; their friends just had to deal with it. 

It wasn’t until lunch that there was actual time to introduce everyone to each other for real, classes getting in the way quite a bit. The group would meet in the cafeteria for lunch and just… chat. Get acquainted. Roman was more than sure that his friends would like Peter. Ned would be there too — obviously, when was he ever not with Peter? — and while Roman didn’t know him either, he doubted that they would dislike him. He was friends with Peter, how bad could he be? 

Roman and Virgil found a table first, since their chemistry class was closest to the cafeteria. They chose a table not too far from the door, where they could easily get out if circumstances required that. A habit Roman had picked up ever since returning to school at the beginning of the year. He wanted to be able to run out if anything bad happened so he could… take care of it. 

Patton and Logan came in together, just as Virgil and Roman sat down at their regular table. It wasn’t long after that that Peter and Ned came walking in. After a bit of looking around the by now pretty crowded cafeteria, Peter spotted a familiar face and he nodded his friend in the direction of their table. 

“Hey guys,” Peter said with a broad yet slightly anxious smile. He was excited to meet new people, but at the same time it was positively terrifying to be subjected to their judgement. From what he heard from Roman, they were great people, and he didn’t doubt that but he couldn’t help a bit of anxiety bubbling up as he looked at the group? What if they didn’t like him? 

“Sup,” Roman grinned in return as Peter sat down next to him, Ned taking the spot opposite him, next to Patton. It was clear he was awkward and not quite sure how to handle this situation, but Peter had dragged him along so he just followed. Whether it was to support his friend or because he wanted to be here himself, wasn’t clear but Roman suspected it was a mix of the two of them. 

Of course, the teens first briefly introduced themselves — mostly relevant for Roman and his friends, since people tended to confuse them. Especially Logan and Patton, but even Virgil and Roman were victim to this, even if both of them felt like they were distinguishable enough from the rest of the group. Once that was out of the way, some careful conversation rose up. It was mostly the six of them trying to get to know each other. After all, Peter and Roman were the only ones that had met before and they didn’t even know each other  _ that  _ well after three relatively brief meetings. 

“You guys made Roman’s suit, right?” Peter asked, leaning forwards a bit to look at the three others. He and Roman had discussed the matter of their secret identities and had come to the conclusion that, since their friends were already well aware of their respective identities, it would be fine to inform them of the other’s as well. Hence why they could just discuss topics like this without leaving anyone out. Ned knew that Roman was Creativity and Roman’s friends knew Peter was Spider-Man.

“Yeah,” Patton said with a smile. It was clear to see that he was proud of that piece of work. And to be fair, it was totally warranted. The three of them had made a full suit, complete with tech that wasn’t only functional, but only looked awesome. They were all immensely proud of it — Roman most of all, probably. He was so extremely proud of his friends, and he never missed up on a chance to brag about them; something Peter had already found out in their first encounter. “That’s us.”

“I just have to say… that’s so awesome,” Peter gushed. “It looks so cool! I don’t even know how you guys did it. I mean, I tried making my own suit but it looked nothing like what you did.”

“The secret ingredient is suffering,” Virgil responded calmly. “A lot of suffering.”

“And a lot of being poked by needles,” Roman added with a smile at his boyfriend, who nudged him in the ribs in response. “What? It’s true. You poked me a lot. It was worth it, though.”

It was plain to see that Roman was just as proud of his friends as they were. No, prouder. Like I said before… he couldn’t believe that they actually managed to pull off a feat like that but he loved them for it. He adored the suit they made for him. Not just because it fit comfortably, looked incredible and was functional on top of that, but also because it was made for him by his friends. They actually put the effort into it to make this. And that made it worth… so much. It was irreplaceable. And the fact that they were getting the recognition they deserved made him so happy. After all, they couldn’t take a lot of credit for making this. No one knew about this other than his family, since… well, no one else knew Roman was Creativity. So it was good that someone who wasn’t him praised them for all the work they put into his suit. They fucking deserved this. 

“It just takes a lot of hard work and  _ patience _ ,” Patton responded. The last bit was added with a look towards both Virgil and Roman. Yeah, making the suit hadn’t been an easy thing. It was hard and frustrating, but they fucking did it. 

“It paid off,” Peter nodded, looking between the friends with a smile. He didn’t know what they were all talking about, but he loved hearing the banter between the group, even if he didn’t get it. It was pretty cute. He could see how close they were and he loved seeing that more than anything. “It looks great.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Roman agreed with a nod. 

“Why, thanks kiddo,” Patton grinned, despite being only a year older than Peter. He had a tendency to call everyone kiddo. Which was weirdly endearing.

The group of teens continued to chat all of lunch, warming up to each other rather quickly. When the bell rang, signifying the end of the lunch break, it almost felt as if they’d known each other for ages already. They even got to the point of making a group chat in case they needed to discuss superhero-related issues. Which, knowing which heroes they were dealing with here, would most definitely be needed sooner rather than later. 


	3. CHAPTER TWO

The school year passed by in the blink of an eye. Roman found that he was weirdly happy to be back here, though. It was weirdly nice to be at school again, learning, seeing his friends, having fun. It took him a bit of time to get used to it and get back in the rhythm again, but once he did, he could enjoy it. It was good to get back into this. 

Roman and his friends hung out more with Peter and Ned, even having a few interactions with MJ here and there. Outside of school, Roman also spent a lot of time with Peter, fighting crime or just… hanging out — most of the time literally, in Peter’s case. 

Somewhere near the end of the year, it was announced that the junior and senior years would be able to go on a two week trip to multiple places in Europe. It wasn’t obligatory, just a science trip, a chance to explore Europe and maybe even learn stuff. Though it wasn’t free, students had to pay a fair amount of money for the trip, but that only seemed reasonable. The trip wouldn't be a cheap one, after all.

Pretty much as soon as he heard about this, Roman decided that he wanted to go on this trip. They rarely went away for more than a week, as his moms were busy with work, mostly. Trying to provide for a family of five wasn’t easy, especially not in New York, so he understood that. He’d never been in Europe, on top of that, so he would love to take this chance to get to know it a little bit. 

After a bit of discussion with his friends, Roman figured out that most of them were at least interested in joining. Remus had already decided with certainty that he’d go along, as well as Virgil, Logan and Janus. It was quite likely that Ned and MJ would make it. Patton wanted to come, but he needed to be sure they could afford the trip. Same for Peter; if he could, he would certainly join, but it was still unclear if he could afford it. Roman had offered to the both of them to help out a bit financially — he’d saved up more than enough money over the past two years and he would do anything for his friends — but they’d refused his offer. Something that he’d already expected when he offered it, and he understood it. But he  _ had  _ to ask. These were his friends, after all. He would feel bad if he didn’t even try to help them out. 

It turned out soon enough, though, that everyone would be able to go on the trip. Luckily. Sure, the trip would be fun with only a part of his friends there, but Roman knew that it wouldn’t be the same. He needed the entire squad present. 

Somewhere between the packing and preparing, Roman and Virgil found the time to meet up together. Just the two of them. They didn’t live that far apart, so it was pretty easy to meet each other somewhere in the neighbourhood, just to chat and spend some time together. Which is exactly what they were planning. 

The two of them met up in the area, deciding they just wanted to walk around a bit, maybe find a place to sit, and just talk. They’d leave for their trip in two days, so it was nice to meet one more time beforehand, because they weren’t sure how much chance there would be for them to be together with just the two of them on their trip. 

“So,” Roman started as they walked, going nowhere in particular. “Excited for the trip?”

Virgil shrugged. “Think so,” he said. “It should be fun, I’m just… I don’t know how it’ll be to actually… travel with the rest of the class.  _ And  _ junior year.”

“Fair,” Roman nodded. He couldn’t say that he didn’t feel the same. There would be a lot of teenagers on the trip, and he was curious to see how this would play out. “But there’s gonna be at least  _ some  _ cool people there. And at least you’ve got me, right?”

“Right,” the other muttered, giving his boyfriend a teasing look. “I don’t know if that makes it better.”

“How dare you,” the hero gasped, placing a hand on his chest in mock offense. “You take that back!”

“No way.” Virgil shook his head with a snicker, causing the other to huff. 

“Rude.” 

Virgil nudged the other. “You wanna get something to eat?” he asked, quickly changing the subject. “There’s probably some seats free at Leo’s, if you want.”

“Of course.” Roman decided that, just this once, he would allow Virgil to get away with changing the subject like that. He could never say no to going out for some food with Virgil. He could never say no to doing anything with Virgil. He just loved his boyfriend so damn much, okay? If he could spend time with Virgil, he would, no matter what he’d have to do for that to happen. “I wouldn’t want anything else.”

He offered Virgil his arm, and the other shook his head, trying to pretend the cheesy gesture didn’t get a grin out of him. Nevertheless, Virgil took his outstretched arm, looping his own arm through the other’s. He leaned a little bit into Roman’s side as they walked the streets in the direction of the cafe. 

Despite all the chaos that had been their lives ever since Thanos arrived, the two were glad to have each other through all of it. Being together had been a comfort unlike anything else. 

(And yes, Remus had been there as well, but it was different. To Roman he was a twin brother, to Virgil he was a good friend. To each other, they were neither. It was different.)

Their lives had been chaotic, trying to deal with the new reality and, about a year later, just as they were starting to get used to this new life, trying to deal with their old reality returning once more. And even after that, the world had to rebuild itself again, a year after half of all life disappeared. So much had happened in those past two years, but it only helped to bring Virgil and Roman closer. In a way that both of them had dreamed of, but been too scared to pursue. 

Despite everything, they still had each other. 

They arrived at Leo’s and, as expected, there was more than enough room for them to sit. It was a great cafe, but it was never too busy around here. Not that either of the two teens were complaining; the food was good and affordable, the atmosphere was good and comfortable, and the staff was kind as well. They came here a lot, either on a date, or with the rest of their friends. 

As soon as they entered the cafe, someone came up to them. The hostess, Justine, looking at them with a wide grin. 

“Hey, you two,” she smiled, “just the two of you today?”

“Just the two of us,” Roman confirmed. Like I said, they came here a lot so they knew a lot of the staff and they knew them as well, just like everyone here knew their habits. 

Justine smiled and led the two teens to a table at the window; a table that had unofficially become their regular seat, apparently. She chatted a bit as she showed the duo their table. They sat down quickly and thanked her before she left them to look at the menu and ponder their order, even though both of them already knew what they wanted before they even set foot inside the cafe.

It didn’t take long for another familiar face to show up at their table to take their orders. Roman was pretty sure it didn’t come as a surprise, because they didn’t often change up their orders. 

After about twenty minutes, their food arrived, looking as good as ever. The two ceased their conversation for a bit, as they waited for the waiter to set down their food and thank him. After that, they continued talking, now with some food to keep them company. 

Roman couldn’t stress enough how much he loved Virgil. He couldn’t stop thinking about how lucky he was to be here with him right this moment. He couldn’t believe that Virgil actually liked him back. It still felt like a dream. It had been more than a year and it still felt surreal. Even with his romantic nature and his vivid imagination, he never could have made up a scenario like this and believe it would ever become a reality. This was better than he ever hoped to dream of. He truly was so lucky to be here.


	4. CHAPTER THREE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: some fighting in a way, mention of torture (in the context of a museum)

The plane towards Venice left a little after six pm. It would be more than nine hours until they got there. Roman had never been on a plane before, so that was… definitely a new experience. 

He and Virgil managed to get two seats next to each other, Virgil sitting next to the window and Roman next to him. Another student sat down on the other side of Roman, with Logan and Patton taking a seat behind them. Patton’s reasoning being that he didn’t want Logan to sit alone, despite the latter insisting that he wouldn’t die from just sitting by himself for a few hours. Knowing him, he would probably spend most of those hours reading or making designs for tech. Or working on something equally nerdy. But even then, Patton wanted to sit next to him. 

As Roman sat down, he looked at Virgil. “Hey, we’re gonna get some alone time in Venice, right?” he asked, bumping his shoulder into the other. “Just us. Without…” He made a small gesture to his friends in the row behind him. “Right?”

“Of course,” Virgil said. He gave Roman a small smile, knowing that it meant a whole lot to Roman to do something  _ cute  _ together in Venice, because it was such a romantic city and they just  _ had  _ to spend time together. And in Paris, of course. “You nerd.”

Roman chuckled and leaned his head against Virgil’s shoulder. He was about to respond when Harrington spoke up about Peter having a perfume allergy or something, making a whole deal about it even if Roman knew for a fact that Peter did  _ not  _ have a perfume allergy, so whatever was going on with that… he didn’t know. Harrington performed a small game of musical chairs, which Roman just decided to ignore as he looked up at Virgil, kissing his cheek, sitting there until the announcement was made that their plane would take off soon, after which Roman sat up again.

The first hour or so, Roman spent talking to Virgil, who seemed to be… not so fond of the idea of flying. He didn’t say it with any words, but Roman noticed his shoulders were squared and his hands were clenched into fists, hiding in the sleeves of his hoodie. So he talked to him, trying to distract him to the best of his abilities. The second hour was spent by the two of them listening to some music together. Roman read a bit — fanfiction he downloaded from Archive of Our Own, mostly. He managed himself fine at first, but after the fourth hour or so, he was starting to get enough of flying. He was just a tad bit too restless to be able to deal with being stuck in a relatively small space for nine hours. He’d prefer to be able to walk around freely and on a plane… there wasn’t much to walk to, unfortunately. 

They got a mediocre diner — the notorious airplane meals he’d heard so much about. After that, he talked to his friends some and even managed to get a bit of sleep before the plane started to descend. 

Nine long hours later, the plane finally touched the ground again. Despite having taken a nap in the plane, Roman was exhausted by the time they got out. And so were the others in the group. After all, despite it being ten in the morning in beautiful Italy, it was around 4 am in New York, so their biological clocks were all over the place right now. 

The group made their way through customs, regrouping in the airport hall. There was some chatter coming from the students, but most of them were tired and just wanted to sit down and… sleep for a while, honestly. Yes, being in Venice was cool but the time difference? Not so cool. 

“Are we complete?” Harrington asked, looking at the students. Roman knew almost immediately that they were not, in fact, complete. He didn’t even have to look, he just used his telekinesis to sense the others around him, almost feeling them with his powers. And it became clear to him that Peter was still absent. However, he came running up to them fairly quickly, making the class pretty much complete. At least, as far as Roman was concerned. He didn’t know everyone in this group as well, so if someone else was missing, he might not notice. He just realised Peter wasn’t here because he was familiar with him.

After Peter joined them, Harrington checked to see if everyone was really there this time around. He must have checked a dozen times before they finally left the airport, heading towards a bus that would take them a little closer to the city itself. 

Once they got there, two boats were meant to take them to the hotel where they would be staying for the coming night. On the way to the hotel, Roman couldn’t stop looking at the streets around them. He had wanted to go to Venice for pretty much as long as he knew about its existence, and it felt surreal to be here right now. It looked exactly like he thought it would, and even more. There was something so charming about the little canals that he just loved more than words could describe. 

However, when they got to the hotel, a little of that feeling disappeared rather quickly, as their hotel looked like it was in all states of decay, nearly falling apart. Roman was pretty sure that it would’ve fallen apart a long time ago if it hadn’t been for the buildings on the sides, and the scaffolding in front of it. But he reckoned it would be okay. Maybe it didn’t look so bad from the inside, right? 

“Looks like we’re here,” Mister Harrington said as he led the group out of their boat in the direction of the hotel. “They’re doing some renovations to the place. Getting some upgrades.” 

Roman wasn’t sure if he was trying to stay positive, or if he was actually like that. But to be fair, he was never sure with this guy. Either it was all an act, or none of it was. There was no in between, that’s for sure. 

The group of students followed their teachers into the hotel. Unfortunately, it didn’t look any better from inside. It was small, dark, and just as close to falling apart as it was from outside. But hey… at least they would only be here to sleep, right? So… optimism?

“This place is trash,” Virgil muttered as he looked around the place. And it really was. Roman didn’t like saying it, but it didn’t look pretty. In fact, it was rather cheap looking. Like it was just some random furniture pushed together in a hurry to make the place look nice. Which failed. 

“Shit, is that a cat?” Roman questioned as his eyes landed on a cat sitting on a table. His eyes immediately darted to Patton, knowing that his friend was allergic. 

Upon this observation, Patton looked up. He looked at Roman and followed his gaze towards the feline, gasping softly as he saw it. “I wanna pet it,” he whispered to the other. 

“Don’t.”

“ _ I wanna pet it _ .”

Roman held an arm to the side, stopping Patton who was already trying to make his way over to the cat, very determined to pet the cat. “Don’t.”

Patton pouted. “Aw man,” he moped slightly. He understood it, but… he wanted to pet the cat. He had some meds in his bag, he always carried them around, but he didn’t want to set his bag down in the middle of the hotel in an attempt to locate them. Especially not in this hotel. 

“Okay, everybody,” Mister Dell started, interrupting the complaining chatter from the students. “Drop your bags off, rest up, explore the city. We’re gonna meet at the Da Vinci museum at three. Let’s go!”

“ _ Vamanos _ !” Harrington added as the students already started to move upstairs in the direction of the rooms that would be assigned to them. 

“It’s-” Logan started to correct, getting abruptly cut off by MJ. 

“It’s  _ andiamo _ ,” she finished. As Harrington corrected himself, she looked up at Logan, who was already making his way up the stairs, with a challenging smile. Logan narrowed his eyes slightly, as if accepting her silent challenge. 

“Lo,” Roman called from above him. “If you’re done being… you. Wanna meet down here around twelve? Maybe we can find some food somewhere?”

“I assume there will have to be some food somewhere around,” he answered with a slight smile, looking at his friends over his glasses. “That sounds good.”

“I heard food,” Remus brought up, quickly joining his twin and co. “Dee and I are in.”

“Sure,” Janus muttered behind him, sending a knowing smile at the back of his friend’s head. “Thanks for asking.”

He wasn’t going to object to the offer, and Remus obviously knew this, gladly taking advantage of the situation.

“Yeah, thanks for asking us too, jackass,” Roman joined in teasingly, eliciting a gasp and strong nudge in the ribs from his twin. “Hey, I didn’t say it wasn’t okay!”

Remus let out a soft grumble as the group came to a halt on the first floor. “Deal with it,” he simply muttered, “we’re coming with you.”

The students went up to their rooms, dropping off their bags and doing whatever the hell they wanted to after that. As they had to share rooms, it might be unsurprising to note that Roman and Virgil shared a room together, as well as Logan and Patton, and Remus and Janus. 

The rooms were about the exact quality one would expect after having seen the lobby and the outside of the hotel. Not the nicest room ever, but… it would do for now. Roman couldn’t help but wonder what the rest of their hotels would look like, though. 

After dropping their bags off, the four of them took their time to rest after their flight — as did most of the other students. Roman set an alarm to go off a few minutes to twelve, so they had the time to wake up and prepare before going outside to have something to eat. Then, he laid down on his bed, managing to get a bit of sleep in before his alarm went off. 

The group of six gathered in the lobby of the hotel, leaving as soon as they were complete — no one really wanted to stay there much longer than they needed to. 

“Does anyone have anywhere to go?” Roman asked as they stepped outside, blinking a few times to get used to the bright sunlight. Patton answered that he had seen a small cafe nearby and Roman nodded. “Lead the way.”

The group chatted softly, pointing out things they saw and discussing possible plans for the day as they walked to the cafe Patton had mentioned. It only took a few minutes for them to get there, but it was exciting nonetheless, even if it was just the idea that they were walking around in  _ Venice  _ of all places. That was exciting enough all in itself.

They finally made it to the cafe. It was definitely not big, but it was a cute place and big enough for the six of them. There was more than enough space for them, so the group sat down at a table outside, still chatting amongst each other. Soon enough, someone came up to them to take their orders. The six ordered some food and a drink, chatting as they waited. 

Roman looked out at the water, leaning into Virgil slightly as he listened to the conversation his friends were having. Discussing their plans and the rest of the trip, brainstorming possible ideas to spend their time, things they  _ had  _ to buy for their family — that one was mostly Patton. 

Their lunch arrived rather quickly and the six paused their conversation for a moment as they got everything they ordered. After that, they continued talking, now with food. 

“Hey,” Remus said when everything as finishing up their lunch, nudging his brother’s side. You’ll join me to Venice Secrets, right?”

Roman took the final sip of his drink and eyed the other suspiciously. He knew him well enough to not just say yes to anything. “I don’t know,” he answered slowly. “What is Venice Secrets?”

“Oh, a torture museum in the centre,” the younger of the two said, way more cheerfully than most people would when talking about a torture museum of all things. Weirdly enough, Roman wasn’t surprised. 

“Of course it is,” he muttered, giving his twin a slight smile. “Can’t you get anyone else to drag with you? What about Dee?” 

It wasn’t the he was against the idea of spending time with his brother, but… this was Venice! One of the most romantic cities ever! If anything, Roman wanted to spend this trying to get a gondola ride with Virgil — yes, this was expensive as shit, but he’d saved up for it. Remus was great in his own way, but there were probably people out there more willing to join him to that museum. 

“Come on, please?” Remus pouted, leaning against Roman’s shoulder. “It’ll be a learning experience!” 

“Ah, yes, who would pass up an opportunity to learn about old torture methods?”

Choosing to ignore his brother’s sarcasm, Remus lit up. “Exactly!” he smiled. “See? I knew you’d get it.”

Roman rolled his eyes as he looked at the other, he loved Remus with every fiber of his being, but he really was an idiot from time to time. 

“Fine,” he sighed finally. He couldn’t get around this anyways. And besides, just because he would join Remus to this museum, didn’t mean that he couldn’t spend any time with Virgil later. “If it gets you to shut up.”

Remus grinned broadly as he hugged his brother tightly. “You know you love me,” he smiled, resting his head on Roman’s shoulders. And of course, he was right. Roman loved Remus more than anyone. But he couldn’t just admit that to his face. He had a reputation; he couldn’t go around telling his idiot brother he loved him. Remus would never let him forget that. Was that really such a bad thing? Probably not, but that’s just the way their relationship worked. 

The group finished their meal and paid for it. After that, the group went their separate ways. Remus dragged his twin off while the rest of the group decided to go their own way, exploring Venice — none of them were quite willing to join them to the museum, and the twins were okay with that. Even if he wasn’t fond of the topic of torture, Roman knew that Remus  _ was,  _ and joining him to the museum to indulge his twin was worth it. 

“Oh, we’re meeting MJ at the museum, by the way,” Remus added as an afterthought as he grabbed Roman’s hand, pulling him in the direction of their destination. 

“Wait, MJ?” Roman stopped in his track, giving his twin a confused look. Two questions crossed his mind as he thought this over. “Okay… two things.” Remus stopped and turned to eye the other, waiting for him to continue. “First: I didn’t know you guys were on speaking terms. Second: why the hell would you want me to join if you already have someone to join you?”

“Well, we’re not exactly  _ speaking _ , it’s just… texting. Sending each other fun online articles, mostly,” Remus shrugged. Roman raised an eyebrow, figuring that ‘fun’ was… subjective. Given the interests of the two, it would probably be a bunch of obscure and conspiracy related articles. “And I don’t want things to be… weird? I think, so-”

“Wait,  _ you  _ don’t want things to be weird?” Roman interrupted with a small smile. “I didn’t think you’d care about that.”

It wasn’t meant as an insult, just… an observation. Remus didn’t tend to care about what others thought of him, and he definitely didn’t usually care about things being weird or not. He was himself and that was it. Others would just have to deal with that. Him caring now, was… cute but in a very weird way. 

Remus glared at Roman and nudged him in the ribs. “Shut up,” he muttered under his breath. “Yeah, I haven’t talked to her a lot, how would I know if it’s weird or not? So yeah, I thought I’d ask someone. Either you or Peter, since he knows her best. And since  _ I’m  _ a responsible adult, I’m not gonna take a  _ baby  _ to a torture museum. So you’re the best option.”

“Define responsible.”

If possible, Remus’ glare only grew bigger — although it was clear it was only jokingly. “Someone who doesn’t jump on the first fucking spaceship they see without thinking like a fucking idiot.”

Roman chuckled as he continued walking, having accepted his fate. “You’re still going on about that, huh?”

“You bet I am,” Remus huffed as he followed his twin. “You know why? Cause you’re a fucking idiot.”

“I apologised, what else can I do?” 

Remus laughed as he nudged his brother with an elbow. “I can forgive you just this once,” he grinned at the older of the two. “Just don’t do it again.”

“I can’t promise that and you know it,” Roman said, making a face at his twin’s comment. If there came a time that aliens invaded Earth once again, he might have to jump on a spaceship again.

In turn, Remus just sighed dramatically. “I know.” He looked away for added dramatic effect. He paused for a moment before turning to Roman again. “Then just be careful in the future, yeah? Don’t want to tell mom you died horribly in some freak spaceship accident.”

“I’ll do my best.”

The two of them made it to the museum quite easily — it would seem that Remus had already figured out where they would have to go in order to get there. He was very excited about this visit, apparently. MJ was already waiting in front of the museum, giving a small smile when she saw the to of them approaching. 

“Hey,” she said softly, before looking at Roman with a slight confusion in her eyes as she tried to think of a way to get her point across without sounding rude. “I… didn’t know you’d be coming.”

“Neither did I,” the teen hero said, “Remus made me.”

He shot a smile at his brother, who just glared in return. “You’re still an idiot.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

At this, Remus’ glare turned into a smirk as his eyes darted towards the museum. Roman found himself thinking that his twin would make an incredible Disney villain. “Oh, you bet I will,” he returned. 

“I’m gonna regret this, aren’t I?”

“Oh, you are.”

“Well…” Roman said, biting his lip. “Let’s just… get this over with?”

The three teens bought the tickets to the museum and walked in, MJ and Remus more enthusiastic than the last member of their party. Sure, in a way, Roman was curious to see what this museum had to offer, but if it was up to him, he wouldn’t be here. This was Venice, after all! He was supposed to be sitting in a gondola with Virgil, kissing him under the Bridge of Sighs, doing everything cheesy and romantic. But, if he had play platonic wingman for his brother, he was more than happy to do so, even if he doubted that Remus  _ actually  _ needed a platonic wingman. He would probably do a good job just… being him. But if it made him feel better to have someone there… sure. 

They walked up the stairs in silence, going up to the top floor, where they would work their way down. The relatively small area was a relief for Roman, giving his mind a bit of a break from sensing literally everything in his near surroundings. Yes, it was a subconscious thing, but that didn’t mean that it got a little exhausting to sense every cobblestone and every person. The museum was smaller, and less crowded, giving him just a bit of a break. 

The three of them got an audio tour, but honestly- they didn’t need it for the most part. Roman abandoned it after about the first two objects he’d seen, as either Remus or MJ would be able to tell him the exact same thing — occasionally even more, and definitely in a more interesting manner. He was surprised at how much the two of them knew about torture, though. Even Remus, who he’d known for his entire life. How did one know so much about this subject?

In hindsight, Remus definitely didn’t need Roman to be there. He and MJ hit it off just fine as they commented on a specific torture device, gave the backstory — mostly for Roman, who knew exactly nothing, but also to show off to the other — and discussed the context or use of a specific device or method. It was honestly nice to see Remus interact with someone who seemed to be as passionate about this as he was. Despite not caring about it as much, Roman loved listening to Remus talking about anything dark, seeing how much it intrigued him. But he was never able to really talk along with him. There was no doubt that MJ was able to do exactly that. Exactly what Remus deserved. He was a weirdo, but in he best way possible — most of the time. He could be a jerk if really wanted to, but it was usually the assholes that were on the receiving side of that. 

A little over ninety minutes later, the three of them finished up the museum tour, Roman’s mind still reeling with all the new information he’d been subjected to in the past hour and a half, as well as some… less than pleasant mental images. Sure, it was interesting but he also felt like he could live a full life without knowing every single detail about the gruesome ways in which people used to torture each other. But hey, at least he spend some time with his brother and a friend he didn’t spend too much time with, right? That was fun. 

They handed in their audio guides and left the museum. As the door opened, Roman had to stop for a second to process all the new information that his telekinesis picked up on. All the people and cobblestones outside suddenly came into view again, and it was a bit overwhelming to take this in all of a sudden. Remus eyed him carefully as he walked past him. 

“You good?” he asked, stopping outside to look at Roman. 

“Yeah.” Roman nodded, following the two others out. He honestly felt much better already. All he needed was a second to get used to everything new around him, especially since it was quite a lot of new information to take in. “Just… real warm all of a sudden.”

The museum had been cool, due to the air conditioning, which the outside did not have. And while it did not bother him that much, he figured it would work well enough as an excuse. Remus knew the truth, but he couldn’t exactly reveal that in front of MJ, who had no idea about his secret identity. 

“It’s okay if the museum was a bit much,” MJ smiled, waiting for the two with her arms crossed in front of her chest. “You can just say that, instead of whatever that was.”

“I handled it just fine, thank you very much,” Roman retorted as he and his brother joined up with her. “I’ve lived with Remus all my life, if I wouldn’t be able to handle a little bit of gore, I wouldn’t even have survived up until this point.”

“He’s right,” Remus murmured, wrapping an arm around Roman’s neck, with a grin at his slightly older brother. 

“Of course,” MJ hummed with a teasing smile. “Whatever you say.” 

Remus chuckled softly and finally let go of Roman. “I saw there’s a café, like- five minutes away,” he announced. “Wanna go grab a drink?”

“Sure thing,” MJ immediately nodded. Roman on the other hand, still looked slightly unsure. He wasn’t against getting himself something to drink, but he also wanted the chance to spend time with Virgil. But that drink did sound good.

“What time is it?” 

Remus glanced at his watch. “About a quarter past two,” he answered, looking up at his brother with a cheeky smile, knowing  _ exactly  _ why he wanted to know so badly. “In case you wanted to know, Virgil’s with the others, probably on the other side of the canal. Might as well join us while you wait for him to haul ass, huh?”

Roman laughed and nudged his twin. He made a fair point, honestly. But he was still Remus, so... “Fine,” he smiled. “Lead the way, Shoggoth.”

The cafe was, just like Remus had said, five minutes away. Shockingly enough. Inside, it wasn’t too busy, so the three could find a place to sit quite easily, but there were a bunch of people sitting outside, enjoying the sun and a refreshing drink. 

“Hey, you ever had espresso?” Remus asked as he cast a glance at the menu. Despite it being mostly Italian, it was still surprisingly easy to understand. MJ shook her head, causing Remus to raise his eyebrows in the way they always did when he saw an opportunity. “Oh you should! It’s amazing. You too, Prince Charmless.”

Roman squealed softly as his brother poked his side, grabbing the offending hand. “You want me dead, Re?” he asked, giving the other a look. “Cause that’s how you kill me.”

He absolutely hated coffee. The only time he drank coffee was when he needed to pull an all-nighter for whatever reason. And lately, he’d started drinking coffee occasionally when he didn’t  _ want  _ to sleep — a bad habit he’d picked up after the snap. Blame Tony. But he still didn’t like the taste of coffee, though; he only drank it for the caffeine. But  _ espresso _ , no that would absolutely murder him dead. And he wasn’t even being dramatic. 

“Sounds like fun,” the younger of the two shrugged, looking back at MJ, who looked at the two with a small smile, but she was careful not to let too much show. “Back me up.”

“I don’t think it could hurt anyone,” she smiled. So now, he was outnumbered, huh? Well that was just unfair. 

“I could hurt  _ me _ ,” Roman retorted confidently. “Coffee and I don’t get along, trust me.”

Remus shrugged and pulled himself free from Roman’s hand with a teasing smile as he moved towards the counter. “ _ Buongiorno _ ,” he said in his best (worst) Italian. “ _ Tre espresso per favore? _ ” 

“Remus?” Roman asked, very clearly understanding the Italian word for ‘three’. “Fuck you.” 

The other just smiled innocently as he dug into his pocket to get his wallet so he could pay. 

“I hate you,” the older twin said softly as he walked up to the counter. Remus, who just grabbed the tray with three small cups, just smiled as Roman ordered a small fruit smoothie. He needed something cool to freshen up from today, and coffee was  _ not  _ going to help him. If anything, it was going to do the exact opposite.

As Roman waited for his drink to get made, the other two left quickly to take their seat at a table before it was taken. There were still a few free tables, but they wanted to be sure they could actually sit somewhere. When he got his smoothie, Roman walked back to the others, who’d found a seat near the window, so they could look at the people outside. 

“I just want to say,” the hero started as he sat down on one of the two open seats, “I don’t appreciate you conspiring against me like that.” He looked between MJ and Remus with a fake pout. 

“Shame,” Remus shrugged as he grabbed one of the cups. He looked up at his brother with a challenging smile before taking a small sip of his drink. “You should try it, though. Maybe you’ll like it.”

“I’m good,” Roman assured him. “But I appreciate the gesture.”

He got out his phone and sent Virgil a quick text, asking to meet up. They wouldn’t have enough time for a gondola ride, but that didn’t mean they weren’t going to spend any time together in one of the most romantic cities in Europe. The Rialto bridge was nearby, and Roman deemed it enough of a landmark (though technically it wasn’t really  _ on  _ land so…) to be a decent meeting point. From there on… they’d just have to see where they wanted to go. 

There was some chit chatting as the three drank their drinks, Virgil agreed to meet up in ten to fifteen minutes, everything was good. It was so great to be out here, relaxing, hanging out with friends. If only they just had a little more time. 

“You sure you don’t want this?” MJ asked, pointing at the third remaining cup of espresso on the table. 

“Quite,” Roman nodded. “I don’t want to die today, so… I’ll pass.” He sipped his juice instead, deciding that this had been a way better choice than espresso. It tasted better for sure.

“Cool,” she said with a small shrug as she grabbed the cup. “I’ll take it, then.”

“Sure, drink all my money, won’t you,” Remus taunted jokingly as MJ took a sip. MJ, in turn, simply responded by locking eyes with him and finishing the drink as she flipped him off. She then put the cup back on the tray and gave the younger twin a smile, getting a chuckle out of him. 

Roman shook his head with a smile. These two were really… meant to be friends, weren’t they? It was adorable. In a weird way. Just like the two of them. 

“Hey, I’m meeting up with Virgil in a few minutes,” Roman announced after having shot a look at Remus’ watch. “So I think I’m heading out, dunno what you’re gonna do?”

“I think we can… leave?” Remus asked, locking eyes with MJ. “I don’t know either.”

“Sure,” MJ nodded, clearly uncertain of her plan for the next forty-five minutes until they would have to meet up with the rest of their class. “Sounds good.”

“Cool.” 

The three of them got up and walked in the direction of the bridge. There was a little bit of smalltalk until they stopped on the Rialto bridge, looking out over the Grand Canal. It was honestly an incredible sight. Sure, it was incredibly crowded on the bridge, and therefore quite overwhelming — both due to Roman’s telekinesis picking up on every single person, and just… in general. But that didn’t mean that the sight was any less spectacular. It just… looked so pretty. The canal and all the houses on the sides, it was everything that Roman had expected Venice to be, and he would give almost anything if it meant they could stay here just a day longer. Even if it was just so he could get that gondola ride with Virgil. Maybe if he saved up, they could come here with the two of them next year and spend even more time together in this city. Speaking of Virgil- he should be here any time now. 

Just as expected, Roman quickly spotted his boyfriend approaching. Even in the crowd, he could recognize Virgil anywhere. 

“Hey, you,” Virgil called as he walked up to the three others. “How was the… museum?” 

“It was… interesting,” Roman responded with a soft laugh. “I feel like they had more fun than me, but… what’s new?”

He made a vague gesture to MJ and Remus. It had been their idea to go to the museum in the first place. Roman was just dragged into this by his twin brother. 

Virgil laughed softly, leaning into his boyfriend a little. “Yeah, that’s hardly surprising,” he muttered. “As long as you had fun, right?”

“Oh definitely,” Roman nodded. “Learned a lot, too.”

“You’re welcome,” Remus winked, earning an eyeroll from his twin. 

MJ seemed to be lightly distracted, looking at something in the distance. “Hey, I’ll see you guys at the museum,” she said suddenly as her eyes landed on something — or someone, rather. Roman didn’t even have to look to guess who it might be. Of course it had to be Peter. Not to be cliche, but- he saw the way the two of them looked at each other. They were adorable together.

“Yeah,” he smiled as she already prepared to take off. “See you!” 

She gave the three a small smile as she left them, not even looking back. 

“Ah, young love,” Roman shook his head with a smile. It was a true miracle to him that neither of the two seemed to be aware of the fact that they were both into each other. But then again- maybe he wasn’t the person to say that, seeing as he and Virgil had been in the same situation a little while back.

“And she’s off,” Virgil commented softly as he looked at the spot that had been previously occupied by MJ. “Though we should probably head out too, if we still wanna get something done.”

Roman nodded. “You’re right,” he said, turning to Remus. “You think you will be alright all by yourself?”

“I’ll try,” Remus responded with a small smile, nudging Roman with his elbow. “You have fun with your boy toy.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

All that got out of the other twin, was a grin and Roman simply shook his head as he turned back to his boyfriend, who was already waiting.

“You coming?” Virgil asked, already taking a step back. He was hoping to get a little bit of alone time with Roman before they had to go to the museum with the rest of the class. And honestly, he wanted to get away from the crowd. 

Roman stopped as he felt something. One of the assets of his telekinesis was the ability to sense anything around him. Much like feeling something with your hand, except it was mental. It had taken a lot of practice, but by now, Roman was able to sense things subconsciously. He could feel any little change, however small it was. Usually, he didn’t pay attention to it, but this time… 

“Roman?” Virgil asked worriedly. He had walked a few steps before realising that his boyfriend wasn’t catching up with him, causing him to stop and turn around. Remus stopped what he was doing as well, looking between the two. “Everything okay?”

“Something’s wrong,” the hero just said, sensing the ripples in the water. As far as he could sense, there was nothing that could have caused this; as if the water had a will of its own. On top of that, he sensed dozens of tiny animals that felt like crabs scattering out of the canal in a panic. That couldn’t be right. 

He walked over to the handrail, leaning forward slightly to look at the water. It seemed completely fine, even though he felt like something was off. He had a bad feeling about this.

Not too far away, on the side of the water, Roman saw Peter and he realised that the other was thinking the exact same thing. The water seemed to return back to normal, but before he could say anything about the matter, the water spouted up, almost as if something had exploded underneath the surface, but Roman was fairly sure that was impossible. He didn’t sense anything, at least, but the water could possibly hinder his powers.

All the boats and gondolas in the canals were pushed over or flung to the side by the force and Roman acted as quickly as he could, trying to stop as many as he could hold, in order to save the people in those boats. Two of those people were Ned and Betty. Roman kept an eye on them to make sure they were okay, and as he saw Peter rush over to them, he took it upon himself to help some other people. He was starting to think he should have brought his suit after all. 

“Holy shit,” Virgil swore as the water started to take the form of a giant body, looking like a man were it not for the lack of feet. “What the fuck is that?”

“I don’t know,” Roman shook his head as he came to an unsettling realisation. “I can’t sense it.”

“What?”

“I can’t sense it, I… I don’t know why,” he stammered. “I get some of the water, but… that’s it.” He didn’t take his eyes off the monster as he pushed Virgil and Remus back. “Get out of here. Make sure everyone is safe.”

“What are you going to do?” Virgil asked worriedly, refusing to move too far from his partner, who just shrugged. 

“Improvise,” he muttered, pushing them away even further. “Go.”

“Roman, I swear to God,” Remus hissed, giving his brother a worried glare. 

“I’ll be fine,” he pressed as he turned around. “Just go. Get people to safety.”

It seemed that the two had finally gotten the far less than subtle hint, as they ran away, making sure to get as many people to safety as they could. Now, Roman turned to the monster just as it moved to smash its water-y hand into a building on the canal. While he could not contain the hand before it hit the building, Roman tried his best to keep the walls and windows together with his telekinesis as they cracked from the impact, water quickly flowing out of the holes. Everywhere around him, people were screaming and panicking, pushing past him and trying to get him to move away from the threat. 

When there was no one in the vicinity of the previously attacked building, Roman let go, glass falling down without him there to keep it up. 

When the monster turned around to hit the water to disturb a lone boat, Roman took the opportunity to get more people out of there. All the time, he focussed on Peter’s position. The hero had made sure to learn to use his ability to sense everything to keep an eye on his friends. He learned to recognize their shape, as weird as it might sound, so he could recognize them without looking. Just so he could be sure they were okay. 

As Roman sensed Peter jumping on a bunch of poles in the water, coming in the direction of the bridge, he also noticed a heavy disturbance in the water, moving closer and closer to Peter. He turned around to keep an eye on his friend and make sure he was okay. Peter grabbed a pole as he jumped on a now empty boat in the middle of the water and used this pole to vault himself up to the bridge. 

Roman gave Peter a slight smile as the latter crouched to help a man up, but the older hero could not focus on that. For once, he could sense the water creature. But only partially, it seemed. It was as if he could sense a small layer of water around something more… abstract. And it wasn’t the entire body either. It felt like just an arm of water. The rest… was still invisible to his telekinesis.

He saw the monster pull back a fist and threw his hands up in an attempt to stop it from hitting them. There was a lot of force behind the fist. So much so that, even with Roman throwing all his weight against it, he struggled to maintain his footing. And every passing second, the force grew and grew, until he could not keep it up anymore. It caused too much strain on his powers — and, by extension, his mind. 

So, he let go, allowing the full force of the water to hit him in the face, pushing him (and Peter, he was there too), in the handrail to the back of the bridge with a strong force, knocking the air out of his lungs for a second.

Then, a few green blasts seemingly coming from the sky hit the monster, letting it stop in its movements to look at the new attacker. Roman grabbed the handrail to pull himself up, looking at the source of the blasts. It seemed to be a person, flying in the direction of the monster. They wore a green bodysuit, with some golden, armoured bits here and there, as well as a purple cape and a helmet that looked more like a fishbowl than anything else. As if they couldn’t get any more extra, the mysterious hero was cloaked in some green mist. 

They came to a stop in front of the water creature and hovered in front of it, creating something that seemed like triangular holograms, almost reminiscent of the magic that Strange used. As the water monster threw a punch at the new hero, they dodged and tried to attack. And all Roman could think about, was how he couldn’t sense them. 

Eventually, the fishbowl-hero was hit by a watery fist that sent them skidding across the canal. Roman was hoping to do something, now that the creature had its back turned to him. But he still couldn’t sense the monster. There was a vague sensation of something under its skin of water, but it wasn’t enough to hold on to. It was way too abstract. 

“I can’t sense it,” Roman informed Peter as the monster roared loudly, almost making the very ground beneath their feet tremble. “I don’t suppose your webs work?”

Peter shook his head as he got up, grabbing a blue and gold Venetian mask that had fallen on the ground. “Afraid not,” he said. 

Roman nodded. As expected. It was water, after all. Webs weren’t the most logical weapon against it. He kept his eyes fixed on the fight before him. “There has to be something we can do, right?” he wondered softly. 

“I’ll see.” Without waiting for a response, Peter put on the mask and shot a web at the roof over the bridge, grabbing on to the top of it. Roman just heard him shouting at the hero about how he wanted to help. As that happened, he witnessed how a green blast shot at the creature’s face, exploding it and sending water everywhere.

“I need to lead it away from the canal,” the newcomer answered as the water monster reformed behind him. He blasted off, leaving another trail of green mist. 

The water creature tried to lunge at the hero and before Roman could even process this, a web clung to his arm, pulling him up just as the water monster hit the first roof over the bridge. He landed on the second roof, next to Peter, as a mist of water splattered around them. 

“Come on,” Peter said as he wrapped an arm around Roman, using his webs to transport them to one of the nearby roofs so they could follow the hero and the water creature, in case they could help.

The new hero flew away as quickly as he could, chased by the monster. They broke bridges, houses, anything in their paths. Just before he saw it, Roman sensed the facade of a house starting to break down. 

“Pete,” he breathed as he nodded in the direction of the house. He already used his telekinesis in an attempt to hold it together. Peter immediately seemed to understand what he was trying to do and jumped in the direction of the house, using his webbing to keep it together as well as he could. 

In the meantime, Roman ran forwards, jumping from roof to roof, helped by his telekinesis to keep him in the air longer than he normally would be able to. He tried his best to keep up with the hero and their chaser, but it proved to be more difficult than it looked. They were going quite fast, apparently. 

The nameless hero had managed to lead the monster to a square, getting further away from the canal, like they said they needed to. Which was good. Except that there was a belltower bordering on the square. And the water creature hit it on its way to chase its enemy, causing the wall to crack. 

“Fuck,” Roman hissed as he tried to focus his telekinesis on the tower, trying to keep it steady as he turned to his friend next to him. “Pete, I need a little help keeping this thing up.”

“On it,” the other hero said as he jumped off the roof, webbing up the walls of the tower. Roman made sure to keep a tight grip on the building, even though it was a strain on his powers. Only when Peter was done webbing up the tower, he let go. To his relief, the building remained upright. But that didn’t last long. 

Because as they were doing this, the third hero was still circling their enemy, trying to take it down. The water monster tried to do the exact same thing, and at some point, it ended up hitting the tower again. Roman felt it starting to fall over once more and he immediately tried to stop it with his powers. It was a struggle, though, as the tower was big and heavy, but he managed to support it for a little bit. Peter tried to do his part as well but even with their combined efforts, it wasn’t enough. Especially with the fight happening not too far away. The unknown hero was thrown into the tower once more — seriously, what had that poor building done wrong? 

Eventually, it seemed that the water monster had been defeated, as something not unlike an explosion sent water everywhere. The shockwave of the explosion caused Peter to let go of the webs that were just barely holding the building up. Roman tried his best to keep it up by himself, but it was too heavy and he just had to let go, causing the building to fall to the ground. 

The teen then jumped to the ground, using whatever was left of his exhausted telekinesis to catch him and allow him to fall down safely. When he got to his feet, Roman was slightly unsteady, starting to feel lightheaded by the excessive use of his telekinetic powers. Too big a strain on his powers tended to make him feel dizzy like that. Sometimes going so far that he passed out. Luckily, it wasn’t that bad yet. 

“Pete,” he called out, making sure not to alert any of his classmates standing not too far away. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Peter groaned as he got up, helped by Roman. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“Good.” Despite knowing that Peter was old enough to be able to take care of himself, Roman couldn’t help but feel at least a little responsible for his safety. He had seen him die once; he was not planning on allowing that to happen a second time. 

“How are you?”

Roman shrugged. “Exhausted, but I’ll get over it.”

The two looked at the square for a second, where they saw the mysterious hero standing in the middle, the water creature completely out of the picture. People cheered them on, but thankfully, no one seemed to notice the two teens to the side. Thank God.


	5. CHAPTER FOUR

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: mention of violence, implied death/end of the world, use of a tranquilizer gun

When everything was taken care of, Roman and Peter went back to meet their friends. Everyone met in front of the museum, which seemed to be closed. So… they had a little more free time. Even though no one seemed to want to go out in the city anymore after that monster attacked. 

The two heroes separated to find their friends and Roman found his group of friends all gathered together in front of the museum, talking. Despite his head still spinning from the effort of using his powers, Roman lunged himself at them, relieved to see they were all alive and kicking. 

“Thank God you’re okay,” he muttered, hugging them. 

“You’re insane,” Virgil returned, nudging his boyfriend slightly. 

“Yeah, that’s another reason on the list why you’re an idiot,” Remus added, getting a hum out of the rest of the group. 

Roman chuckled and shook his head. “Thanks for the support, guys,” he muttered with a small smile. 

Patton gave a small smile, but kept an eye on his friend. “Are you okay, though?” he asked worriedly. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” the hero replied, running a hand through his hair. “Just- tired. Drained. Used a lot of my powers there, so…”

“Well, we don’t have to go to the museum now, so… at least you can rest for a little bit, right?”

Roman nodded, though this didn't help him feel much better. He would rather be out here, spending time with his friends, exploring the city. Having fun. Not being stuck inside a lousy hotel for the rest of the day. But there wasn't much to do. Their teachers agreed it wasn’t safe to go out and about now, but Roman still hated it. Somehow, he felt responsible. Even though he knew it was stupid. 

It  _ was  _ stupid, right?

“Yeah,” he muttered regardless. “I suppose that’s something.”

  
  


Later that evening, a group of students found themselves sitting in the lobby in the hotel. They were the only people in the hotel at the time, so they could easily sit there without bothering anyone. A large part of the group preferred to go up to their rooms instead, trying to recover from the stress of the day’s attack and almost dying — for a good number of them, although not anyone was near the Grand Canal when it happened. 

Everyone was talking about the monster, trying to figure out what it could have been. Roman sat with his friends and brother around a table, trying to make sense of what happened along with… pretty much everyone. He didn’t understand it. He didn’t understand why he hadn’t been able to sense the creature. 

“It’s aliens,” Ned suggested, “it has to be.”

“Buzzfeed says there’s a sailor named Morris Bench who was exposed to an experimental underwater generator and got hydropowers,” Flash read on his phone, causing Roman to scoff. Right. Whatever that being was… it didn’t feel human. He doubted that it was.

“Yeah, you should definitely believe everything you read on the internet,” MJ retorted sharply from her position on the stairs, giving Flash a look. 

“Buzzfeed on top of that,” Roman added. How would they know about this villain and his powers? “They’ve got their sources to find out about experiments like that, right? Very reliable indeed.”

Flash didn’t respond. “Spider-Man could take him,” he muttered, not giving the others any more attention. Yeah. If only he knew. 

The group went back and forth, trying to figure out some sort of explanation. Theories like shapeshifting, ghosts and aliens came up. Every single one of them as unlikely as the other. And Roman was pretty sure that everyone knew. They were just trying to explain this phenomenon, trying to find a way of dealing with this…  _ this _ . However, as soon as the man in the fishbowl appeared on the news, everyone gradually fell silent, wanting to know more about this guy. Although the news was in Italian, so they wouldn’t understand it either way. 

“Who is that guy?” Betty wondered as she looked up at the shaky footage someone had shot of the mysterious guy from before. For a moment, it was silent, because… no one knew. 

“He’s like Iron Man and Thor rolled into one,” Brad commented, his eyes glued to the screen. Roman bit his tongue to not bring up the fact that he actually reminded him more of Doctor Strange, but he realised that Strange wasn’t the biggest name in the superhero world, and he wasn’t sure if the others even knew about him.

“He’s all right,” Flash said with a soft scoff. “He’s no Spider-Man.”

“What is it with you and Spider-Man?” MJ wondered, voicing exactly what Roman thought. While it was ironic to see how Flash adored Spider-Man while not being able to stand Peter, he still didn’t like Flash. At all. 

“What? He’s just awesome, okay?” Flash defended himself with a hint of offense. “He protects the neighbourhood, and you know, he’s inspiring. He inspires me to be a better man.” 

It was around this time that Peter re-entered the room. He left not too long ago, getting a call from May. She had been worried about her nephew’s safety and she obviously wanted to know what had happened here. Of course, Peter didn’t know that too accurately himself, but he did his best.

“Sup dickwad?” Flash called out to him, getting an eyeroll out of Roman. “I thought you drowned.”

“Doing a great job at being a better man, Thompson,” Roman said with a slight glare at the other. “I think you’ve got quite some work to do.”

Flash didn’t say anything, but only sent a glare at Roman, who just give him a way-too-sweet smile in return. After that a slight silence fell in which people returned their attention to the television, trying to understand anything that was said on the news. They saw footage from the fight, but it turned out that no one spoke Italian well enough to follow exactly what she said. Either that, or they didn’t care.

“Sounds like his name is Mysterio,” Brad observed after he heard the anchor say something about a Mysterio, apparently.

“L’uomo del misterio is-”

“Man of mystery,” Logan interrupted, giving MJ a self-satisfied smile. “It’s not a name, they don’t know who he is either.”

“Mysterio,” Ned repeated slowly, continuing to say that it was a cool name at the same time as Betty, after which they continued to coo at each other. Seriously, what had happened to those two in the last day?

Roman had to give it to them, though. Mysterio was a pretty cool name. It was mysterious, badass, and very fitting. 

They continued to watch the news for a little while, trying to make sense of it. Of course, they couldn’t understand anything of it, even though Logan and MJ seemed to know a little bit of Italian, it wasn’t nearly enough to understand everything that was said. 

After a while, the students gave up on trying to figure out what was happening on the tv and started talking among themselves. Peter spoke to MJ, Remus eventually butting in once he heard MJ mentioning an article about the Eiffel Tower being a mind control antenna — one that he had sent her, according to his own words. From there on, the conversation turned into the two of them talking about that and related conspiracies with Peter listening in and wondering why he was surrounded by weird people like this. Janus took one look at his best friend talking about his tinfoil hat crap and decided that he was not allowing Remus to drag him into that, instead joining Roman and his friends at the table, joining in on their conversation instead. 

Around midnight that night, most of the students decided to go to their room for some sleep. They would leave tomorrow morning to go to Paris — by bus, which would take over ten hours. The bus would leave at nine, so there was no time to sleep in, either. 

Roman chatted to his friends as they walked up to their rooms, following Virgil. The events of that day had been mostly forgotten by now and the teens had moved on to their regular conversation. After all, a water monster appearing out of nowhere wasn’t the strangest thing they had experienced since Roman became a superhero. It definitely wasn’t normal to them, but weirder things had happened. On top of that, there wasn’t much more to discuss than what they’d already gone over. Some classmates were  _ still  _ going on about it, trying to make sense of it all, but they realised that it was no use. So they just stopped trying. 

After having said goodnight to the rest of their friends, Virgil opened the door to their shared hotel room, waiting for Roman to follow. Roman ended the conversation with Patton and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. 

“You know, I still don’t-” The hero paused, suddenly realising that he sensed someone else in the room. Someone besides him and Virgil. He didn’t know who they were, but he didn’t trust this. However, just as Roman was about to open his mouth to talk about this discovery, a small dart flew into Virgil’s neck. He fell to the side, right onto his bed. Well… shit. 

He stepped further into his room, keeping up his guard to attack anyone that might be there. However, when he turned around, he saw a slightly familiar face, sitting on a chair in the corner of the small room. Roman had only seen her once, but he recognized the face. Maria Hill. Member of SHIELD. She was at Tony’s funeral. He’d seen her there, but didn’t speak to her. Why would he, anyways? He had no reason to. And now… she was here.

“What are you…?” He trailed off as he stepped forwards, frowning at the woman in his room. How did she get here? What was she doing here? And why did she just shoot Virgil with a dart? “What? Why are you here?” 

“Look, I will cut to the chase,” Maria said. She knew that Roman knew who she was, and she knew who Roman was, so there wasn’t much reason for any pleasantries here. “About a week ago, a village in Mexico was destroyed by a cyclone. According to witnesses, this cyclone had a-”

She fell silent when someone knocked on the door, followed by said door being opened ever so slightly. Harrington appeared in the doorway, smiling sheepishly at Roman. Obscured by the door, Hill looked at Roman in exasperation, before turning to the door as Harrington started speaking. 

“Just… making the rounds,” he said softly. “See if anyone needs emotional counseling after today’s traumatic events.”

Roman immediately shook his head, feeling his heart pounding. What if Harrington would see Hill sitting in his room? What would he think?

“Oh… no,” he stammered, wanting his teacher to get out of here as quickly as possible. “No, I think we’re good here. Thank you, though.”

Harrington nodded. “Good,” he said. “Good, I’m not… really qualified to do it anyways… good night.”

He smiled at Roman as he closed the door. When a soft click sounded, the teenager turned back to Hill with a small smile. 

“Sorry,” he said with a small shrug. “He means well, but…” He noticed the impatient look on Hill’s face and cleared his throat. It was clear that she wanted to get to the point. Right. Maybe not annoy the woman with a gun too much. Even if it only seemed to be a tranquilizer. “You were saying?”

“Right,” Hill nodded. “According to witnesses, this cyclone had a face. A few days later, a village in Morocco was destroyed by…”

Another knock sounded on the door, followed by Dell’s voice. Roman shook his head. He wasn’t sure he had heard anything useful out of his mouth today. Things about witches and conspiracy theories, mostly. Nothing that they could actually work with. Surely, nothing would change this time. He could afford to not pay attention.

“You know what… we should move,” Hill decided as Dell carried on talking about some bacteria found in the canals. “Suit up.”

“I… would love to,” Roman started, biting his lip sheepishly. “But…”

Hill raised an eyebrow, looking at the teen. “You didn’t bring your suit?” she filled in, looking as if she was done to retire after this brief encounter.

“I’m going on vacation,” he reasoned. “I didn’t expect to need a suit.”

Maria Hill sighed and reached for something she kept in one of her pockets. A small, black box. Roman eyed the box cautiously, his eyes darting towards Hill as she held it out to him. 

“I wasn’t going to give this yet, but in that case…” 

The teen hero took the box slowly. It didn’t seem to be… anything special, but considering that Maria Hill of all people gave this to him… it had to be something, right? 

“Stark left this for you,” she added, making Roman freeze on the spot. He held the box in his right hand, his left hand about to open it when she made the announcement. Tony left this to him? 

His heart seemed to stop for a second as he took this in. His eyes darted over to Hill for a second, before fixating on the box again. With a breath, he opened the box. In it, he saw a small bracelet. Red and white, with a few small golden details woven into it. Behind it, he saw a small note. Black, with the Stark Industries logo in gold. 

Roman carefully put on the bracelet, getting out the note and turning it around to see what it said. In a familiar handwriting, he read: 

_ I know how you feel about this, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s still a work in progress, maybe your friends can have a look at it and finish it up. - TS _

  1. _S. Tap it three times_



He smiled at the note and put it back, putting the box on his bed. Roman then looked up at Hill, unsure of what she wanted from him. She just gave him a small nod, mostly aimed at the bracelet around his wrist. Clearly, she wanted him to give it a try. 

So, he looked back at the bracelet and tapped it three times, just like the note had said. Immediately, a suit formed around him. Encasing his hand and arm first, but quickly covering him entirely. 

“Holy shit,” Roman murmured, looking down at himself. The first thing he noticed, was how similar this suit was to his own suit, made by his friends. Tony knew how much that suit meant to the teen. This new suit was form fitting, white with red all around, a few golden details going from the shoulders down to his wrists. And despite the heads-up display, Tony still kept the small screens on his right sleeve. As he looked around the room, he could see the heat signatures and his suit seemed to lock on objects that were free for him to grab with his telekinesis.

“Come on,” Hill said as she opened the door to see if it was clear to leave. “We need to go.”

“Right,” Roman nodded. She didn’t have a lot of patience, it would seem. He was sure that whatever was going on, it was very important. Important enough to break into his hotel room and tranquilize Virgil, apparently. But she could wait a second longer, right? Apparently not. 

He looked back at Virgil, hoping that he would be okay like this, but quickly followed after Hill, who was already making her way down the hallway. 

They got outside, where there was a small boat waiting for them. Hill got in, followed by Roman. But when they didn’t take off yet, the teen turned to the woman behind him. She didn’t look like she was about to move either. So why was she so eager to leave his room when she wasn’t even gonna hurry? 

“Are we waiting for some-” 

Just as he spoke, the door behind him opened again. Roman turned around to see Nick Fury emerge, followed closely by Spider-Man. 

“Oh, hey Pete,” he said immediately, grinning behind his mask. “Fancy seeing you here.”

Fury got on the boat as well, Peter following him as he looked at his friend, admiring his new suit. “Wow,” he gasped. “Is that new?”

Roman nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Apparently… Tony left this. Still a work in progress, but…”

“That’s awesome,” the younger hero grinned, almost more excited about this suit than Roman himself.

“I know right?” Roman responded, immediately filling him in on the features of the suit so far.

As the teens caught up, Fury gave Hill a long look, finally starting up the boat. 

“He didn’t have a suit,” she defended herself, but choosing to say no more on the matter. Fury nodded, as he looked ahead of him, but didn’t say anything until they were away from the hotel, making their way through the canals of Venice. No one really said anything, too preoccupied with their own thoughts. 

“Stark left you something, too, Parker,” Fury said once they were well on their way, reaching into the pocket of his coat to get a small, brown case which he handed to Peter. 

Peter looked at it for a second before opening the case. Roman, not being able to hide his curiosity, peeked at it for just a fraction of a second. Just to see what it was. It appeared to be a pair of glasses. Not too different from the pair Tony used to own. Peter looked up at Roman for a moment, before turning to Fury, clearly having a lot of questions.

“Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,” Fury spoke, taking a moment to look at Peter. “Stark said you wouldn’t get that because it’s not a Star Wars reference.”

“I got that reference,” Roman muttered to no one in particular. “Shakespeare. Henry IV, part two. I’ve seen that play. It’s good. So are the others, though.”

He knew that no one asked, but it was so quiet and he just wanted to break the silence. And maybe he wanted to let the others know that he did understand the reference. 

Eventually the boat entered some underground canal and stopped right there. Hill and Fury immediately got out, the two teens followed not too long afterwards. Roman was still looking around, but joined them soon after. He walked over to the others, looking wherever he could just to see what his suit would catch onto. 

“You can lose the masks,” Fury called over his shoulder as he led the two of them inside their base. “Everyone here’s seen you without them.”

Roman nodded and as soon as he thought about taking off the masks and how it would work, the suit seemed to catch on to his train of thought, pulling back to reveal his face. Holy shit, that was actually amazing. He’d really have to get used to this suit, once it was fully done to work with. Maybe he could ask Logan about it tomorrow, he was sure that Logan could work with this and make something even better out of it. He was an actual genius of himself; there was no doubt he’d know his way around. 

There were just two people in the base other than them; a rather intimidating man holding a gun for seemingly no reason — Dimitri, according to Fury — and someone with their back turned to the group, hunching over something on a table. Fury introduced him as ‘Mister Beck’. Upon hearing his name, this Beck-guy turned around and Roman immediately recognized him as the man that had defeated the water monster earlier that day. Except now, his fishbowl helmet was absent, allowing him to reveal his face — a face that was almost impossibly good looking. Yes, Roman was taken, but he was still capable of spotting handsome people that weren't his boyfriend. And this man was  _ way _ more than just a little handsome.

“Mysterio?” Peter questioned, turning to Roman for a moment as if he wasn’t sure if he was right in his conclusion. 

“What?” Beck laid his eyes on the two teens, looking between them, trying to figure out exactly what he had missed. 

“Oh- doesn’t matter,” Peter said with a shake of his head. “It’s just what my friends have been calling you.”

Beck nodded, approaching the two. “Well, you can call me Quentin,” he told them. He shook hands with both Peter and Roman, giving them a small smile. Roman returned the smile as he locked eyes with the man for a second. Beck’s eyes were a light shade of blue that seemed to be piercing his soul but at the same time… looked very pretty. Surely Virgil wouldn’t mind him saying that, right? He’d probably agree. He’s got good taste in men. “You two handled yourself well out there. What you did, saved a lot of people. We could use kids like you on my world.”

Roman was about to respond when the last sentence hit him. “Wait,” he interjected. “Did you say…”

“Your world?” Peter finished, just as confused as his friend. The gears in his head were working at top speed trying to make sense of this. 

“Mister Beck is from Earth,” Fury informed the two. “Just not yours.”

Beck — Quentin, Mysterio, whatever — confirmed this with a nod. “There are multiple realities,” he added. “This is Earth Dimension-616. I’m from Earth-833.”

Okay. So. There were multiple realities — at least 833, probably? There was a multiverse, that was… that was  _ something _ . Logan would freak out if Roman told him this. And clearly… Peter was doing exactly that. He was rambling about the aspect of a multiverse and how that would change everything they knew and Roman couldn’t stop thinking about how much Peter reminded him of Logan in that moment. Funky little genius. 

However, Peter stopped in the middle of his ramble as he realised that the others — meaning Hill and Fury, mostly — were less than amused with his little outburst. Could they really not spare a single moment? This was a lot to unpack, couldn’t they at least give them  _ time _ ?

“Sorry,” Peter stammered, cutting himself off. “It’s really cool.”

“Don’t ever apologise for being the smartest in the room,” Quentin told him before Roman could say anything. 

“Wow, rude,” Creativity joked with a small smile. “I mean, it’s obviously true but I’m right here.” 

At this, Quentin let out a soft chuckle, looking at Roman with an amused smile — holy shit, that looked cute. “Right, sorry kid.”

Roman just shook his head. “It’s all good,” he said. “Like I said, it’s true. Pete’s one of the smartest people I know, so… I get it.”

Peter gave his friend a half-hearted glare, mostly embarrassed by this comment. In return, Roman just shrugged with a smile. What was he supposed to do? Take it back? He was telling the truth here. 

“Anyways,” Hill interrupted their moment impatiently, giving Quentin a pointed look. The man nodded, walking over to the table behind him as a hologram appeared over it, showing the image of a black hole. 

“They were born in stable orbits within black holes,” he explained as the others stepped closer. Roman looked at the image as it changed to reveal four creatures. Other than the water monster they saw earlier, there was a storm with a face, a monster seemingly made out of rock and something that looked like a blob of lava with arms and legs. “Creatures formed from the primary elements: Air, water, fire, earth. The science division had a technical name. We just called them Elementals.”

“Versions of them exist across our mythologies,” Hill added, not taking her eyes off of the images before her.

“Turns out, the myths are real.”

“Like Thor,” Peter said with a nod, earning a small smile from Roman. He wasn’t wrong. “Thor was a myth and now I study him in my physics class.”

“These myths are threats,” Fury said as he walked up to the others. As if they didn’t already realise that after the water elemental destroyed part of Venice. They  _ really  _ needed this exposition.

“They first materialized on my earth many years ago,” Quentin continued. The image now showed a big Earth, slowly being consumed by what seemed like fire. Talk about dramatics. “We mobilized and fought them, but with each battle they grew, got stronger. I was part of the last battalion left trying to stop them. All we did was delay the inevitable.”

Roman couldn’t take his eyes off the holo-Earth, slowly being eaten by the fire. There was something so unsettling about the notion. A world consumed by only fire. Talk about apocalyptic.

“The Elementals are here now, attacking the same coordinates,” Hill jumped in once more. “Our satellites confirm it.”

“Wait,” Roman said softly, looking at Mysterio. “Can I ask a question?”

Quentin gave him a nod in return. “Of course,” he said with a nod, turning to look at the teenager next to him. 

“Right.” He took a breath as he tried to figure out the best way to phrase it. “This afternoon, when the monster- or Elemental, I guess, when it attacked, I couldn’t… sense it. Like- I have this power where I can sense objects with my mind, basically. And I couldn’t sense the Elemental at all. Only a little bit, but I think that was the water from the canal rather than the Elemental itself. You seem to know a deal about these creatures, so… do you know what that was about?”

Beck remained silent for a second. “I think I do,” he replied. “You see, these creatures, they’re, like I said, they’re practically myths come to life. Their power is… it’s beyond comprehension. They behave more like an entity rather than a being with physical form. That’s why they can go under the radar so easily. They’re entities that take the shape of the elements, but it’s more a manifestation of their powers rather than their physical body.”

Roman nodded. Sure, that made sense. The Elemental didn’t have a physical form, but it was just an entity that had taken the shape of water. Fair enough. There was one more thing though… “What about you?”

“What?”

“I couldn’t sense you during the fight either,” the hero recalled. “But you’re fine right now. Or- I sense you, I mean. So why would that be? What’s different?”

“On my world, there were many people with powers not too different from yours,” Beck explained to him. “Not all of them were on our side. So the tech division made an addition to our suits. Kind of like a cloaking device to hide yourself from them. It’s usually active in combat, but outside of that, there’s no real need.”

Roman looked at the man for just a second, pondering over these words. That… would make sense. It seemed that things had been a lot more professional on his Earth, with tech departments and science departments and whatnot, so it made sense they’d have developments like this. He wondered if they could make something like that-

“Fair enough,” he said, looking away as he suddenly pulled himself from his train of thought before he would go off track completely. He could think about that cloaking device later. Maybe he could ask Logan about it. “Sorry, I just… wanted to be sure. It didn’t add up so I needed to know.”

“Don’t worry, kid,” Quentin smiled. “It’s good to be cautious.”

Before Roman could even think of responding, Fury cleared his throat, clearly wanting to get back to the discussion of the Elementals. “Mister Beck has managed to destroy the first three,” he explained, unwilling to wait for anyone else to try and speak up. “There's only one left: fire.” 

“The strongest of them all,” Mysterio said, toying with something on his right hand that Roman recognized to be a wedding ring. “The one that destroyed my Earth. It's the one that took my family.” 

“I'm sorry,” Peter said softly, Roman repeating this as he gave Beck a small smile. He couldn’t imagine it had been easy for him. And to go through it all over again on a different Earth...

“And it will be in Prague in approximately 24 hours,” Hill informed, pulling Roman from his thoughts.

“We have one mission: kill it,” Fury said as he turned his attention to the two teens. Again, taking his turn. “And you're coming with us.”

“You want us… to go to Prague?” Roman asked, part of him thinking that he must have misheard. Surely, that couldn’t have been their plan, right? Even if it was, they were supposed to go to Paris tomorrow. They couldn’t just… skip their trip like that!

Fury nodded. “That’s what I said.”

“Mr. Fury, this all seems like bigtime, you know, huge superhero kinda stuff,” Peter said nervously, exchanging a glance with Roman. “And, I mean... I'm just a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, sir.”

“Bitch, please. You've been to space,” Fury called at Peter, causing Roman to grimace slightly. As much as he loved space, the first — and, as of now last — time he went to space… not much good happened. In fact…  _ nothing  _ good happened that time. Not only did they fight Thanos and lose; he had also found himself on the brink of death when trying to get off Titan, along with Nebula and Tony. Not the greatest memories.

“I know, but that was an accident,” Spider-Man stammered, looking at Roman again as if he was looking for support from his friend, who nodded. 

“If I might add to that… the last time we were in space, Peter turned to dust and I nearly died when I was stranded on a spaceship for three weeks,” he jumped in, “if anything I think that’s proof that this is… not our thing.”

“Sir, come on,” Peter tried. “There's gotta be someone else you can use. What about Thor?”

“Off-world.”

“Okay, um, Doctor Strange.”

“Unavailable,” Hill jumped in.

“Captain Marvel.”

“Don't invoke her name.” Fury’s intonation made Roman raise an eyebrow, but he did not feel like it was worth bringing this up right now. If anything, he didn’t care.

“Sir, look, I really wanna help, I do,” the younger hero tried desperately. “But if my aunt finds out that I left my class trip, she's gonna kill me. And if I'm seen like this in Europe, after the Washington Monument, my whole class will figure out who I am and then— and then the whole world will figure out who I am, then I'm done.” When he finished he turned to look at Roman, as if he was looking for confirmation from the other. Fury followed his gaze, looking at the older hero expectantly.

“I… have to agree,” Roman said softly, looking at Fury for a second. “I would love to help save the world, I mean- it’s basically my thing by now. But… I just can’t. It would be way too suspicious to leave the trip like that. People will know something is up and I’m not sure how I can explain that to anyone without coming off as suspicious.”

He already risked a lot just today, trying to save the city without wearing his suit. He couldn’t just- go to Prague like that. People would ask questions and he wasn’t sure he would be able to give an answer to those questions. Right now… he wasn’t sure he was ready to deal with all that right now.

Fury remained silent for a moment or two, looking at the two teens. “Okay. I understand,” he finally nodded, surprising both of the two teens. This wasn’t supposed to be so easy, was it? This was  _ Nick Fury _ ; he wasn’t going to give up that easily, right?

“I'm sorry, what?” Peter asked, clearly as confused as Roman was. 

“Why don't you get back before your teachers miss you and become suspicious,” the man continued before he turned to the mysterious man who still hadn’t said a single word. “Dimitri. Take them back to hotel, please.”

“Thank you, Mr. Fury,” Peter said as he made to leave the hideout, Roman following him. “And, uh- good luck.”

“Yeah,” Roman nodded, “I really am sorry I can’t do anything, it’s just… too complicated. I wish I could help but…”

“Kid,” Beck interrupted his rambling gently. “It’s okay. I’ll see you two around.”

Roman nodded again, giving Mysterio a small smile. He probably did have to just… go now. “See you,” he said softly, making finger guns because he’s a gay disaster.

“Yeah, see you,” Peter said softly, turning to Hill. “Bye, ma'am.”

“Yeah.” Apparently, she was not in a talking mood. Was it because they said no to their request to kill the Elemental? Yes. It had to be. She didn’t seem too amused by that.

The two teens masked their faces again and followed Dimitri to the boat that would take them back to the hotel. The boat ride was awfully quiet. Dimitri wasn’t a very talkative man, and neither Roman nor Peter wanted to talk. Not with him around, anyways. He gave off… weird vibes. 

When they had gotten back to the hotel, and Dimitri had left again, Roman turned to Peter. 

“Is it me, or was that way easier than I thought it would be?” he asked softly as they made their way back to their rooms. Was Nick Fury really so easily convinced? That was not the Nick Fury he had heard so much about, who had plans for every single possibility and who always had his shit together. Who didn’t take no for an answer

Peter shook his head. “It’s definitely not just you.”

“Maybe we weren’t that essential?” Roman suggested carefully. “Maybe we were in the right place, right time and they thought ‘let’s ask them’? So us saying no… isn’t that bad?”

As he went on, Creativity grew less confident in his suggestion, knowing that it was bullshit as soon as he brought it up. If they weren’t that essential, would they really have bothered? From the sounds of it, they had asked the two teens because no one was available. As a last resort. 

“I- I don’t know,” Peter said with another shake of his head. 

“Me neither,” the older hero sighed. “At least he didn’t kidnap us, so… that’s something, right?”

Peter chuckled softly. “Yeah, I suppose so.”


	6. CHAPTER FIVE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: discussion of past character death, guilt

When Roman came back into his hotel room, Virgil was still out cold. So, he changed into his pyjamas and actually brushed his teeth waiting for his boyfriend to wake up. Then, finally, Roman heard a groan coming from the other bed and looked up as Virgil slowly came to his senses, starting to push himself up. 

“What the hell?” he muttered softly, still a bit dazed. “What happened?”

“Oh, nothing big,” Roman shrugged. “Maria Hill broke into our room and tranquilized you in order to talk to me.”

Virgil blinked as he looked at his boyfriend, trying to figure out if he was actually telling the truth. “What?”

“I know how it might sound, but I’m not lying,” he defended himself. “They talked to Peter as well. It was about the water monster attack.”

“Oh?” Virgil rubbed the back of his neck, still kind of disoriented. “What did they have to say?”

“Well, we went to some sort of secret lair,” Roman started to explain as he got up so he could move around the room a little bit. “Me, Peter, Maria Hill and Nick Fury, that is. We went to this lair and met Mysterio, who is this guy from another dimension apparently. He said the water monster was an elemental creature. There’s three others. Two of them are dead, I think. The fire one isn’t, though. They wanted us to go to Prague to help fight the monster. He’s gonna show up there, apparently.”

“Prague?” Virgil raised his eyebrows in surprise. “What did you say?”

“I respectfully declined,” he responded, running his fingers over the bracelet he still carried around his wrist. “I would love to help save the world, but I can’t just… bail on the trip. Peter said the same.”

Virgil nodded but he didn’t speak up. His eyes were fixated on Roman’s hands, trying to figure out what he had there. Roman wasn’t one to wear bracelets that much. He said they tended to irritate him. 

“And,” Roman continued as he looked down at the bracelet. “I got something from Tony. Wait, let me…”

He trailed off as he tapped the bracelet three times, causing the suit to form around him one more time. “He said it was still a work in progress, so I think you guys might wanna take a look once we’re back home,” he said with a smile as he looked down at his suit. While it felt weird to have a suit on that wasn’t his original suit, he was so happy that Tony stuck with the design his friends had made. It was pretty much identical to his original suit and it made this suit a thousand times better.

Virgil raised his eyebrow as he checked out the suit. “Wow,” he said softly. There were no words for him to describe how he felt about the suit. It looked… so good. In the year that they lived with Tony, Virgil did discuss the possibility of an armour-like suit, just like the one Tony had made for Peter. Mostly because Virgil was worried about Roman’s safety now he was starting to get himself involved in bigger things. And Tony had shared that sentiment. The two of them had talked about it, Virgil came up with some designs — not too different from the designs he had made for Roman’s original suit. They hadn’t wanted Roman to know until the suit was fully finished, but… turned out it never got to that point. The suit now looked almost exactly like he had envisioned and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “That’s… great.”

“I know,” Roman said with a smile, showing off his suit slightly. “It’s nanotech, apparently. Has some sort of heat vision, as well as a way to target objects to help with telekinesis and stuff.”

Virgil nodded, recognizing some of the options they had discussed all those months ago — almost two years by now, which was almost insane to think about. “It looks great,” he said finally. “You know… I worked on that suit with him.”

Roman whipped his head up the mask on his suit pulling back as he grinned at his boyfriend. “You did what?’

“It was mostly… design wise, and maybe some features that could be useful, but…” Virgil shrugged. “I supposed I helped, sort of.”

“Is that what you two were so secretive about?”

“Sort of,” he confirmed. “You weren’t supposed to know until it was done, though-” He paused for a moment, making a vague gesture with his hand. “He didn’t get to actually finish it, I suppose.”

A short silence fell between the two and Roman nodded. The fact that Virgil had helped only served to make the suit more important to him. It shouldn’t have been much of a surprise, honestly. Design had always been something Virgil was good at, and it definitely explained why the suit looked so similar to his previous one, since Virgil had designed and made that one himself.

“It’s still incredible, though,” he said as the suit pulled back into the bracelet on his arm again. “And I can’t wait to see how it will turn out once you guys have had your chance with it.” 

He sat down on the bed, next to Virgil and bumped their shoulders together. Virgil gave him a small smile, but didn’t meet his eyes completely. 

“It’s so weird,” Roman continued, grabbing one of his boyfriend’s hands in his. “Like… the fact that he was working on this, but never finished. It’s like…” He snapped his fingers, trying to think of a good example. “Like when you’re watching a show, and halfway through filming of the show, one of the actors died and in the next episode, their character is suddenly gone and now you’re kind of left with this half-finished product and you’re not sure what to do with it but you can’t just leave it there.” He took a breath as he finished, realising that he had started rambling somewhere along the way. “If that even makes any sense.”

“It does,” Virgil said with a nod. His thumb rubbed the back of Roman’s hand in a comforting gesture. It did feel strange knowing that this was a work in progress, a half finished work that Tony never got to finish. “I understand.”

“I miss him,” the hero sighed, leaning against Virgil’s side. Roman had relived that moment so many times. Those final moments in the battle, he had repeated them so often in his head, trying to figure out what he could have done differently. He knew that Strange had said that there was only one version of reality where they won, but Roman just couldn’t believe that. There had to be something he had missed. Something he could have done to prevent this from happening. But no matter what he tried, he couldn’t think of anything. He hated that. “It’s been months. You’d think I’d be over it by now, but…”

“Hey, it’s not easy to… watch someone die,” Virgil said, giving Roman’s hand a slight squeeze as a form of reassurance. “And it’s okay to miss him, no matter how long it’s been.”

Roman sighed. “I suppose,” he muttered. “I just feel like I should be over it by now, you know? I know it’s stupid, but…”

He shrugged. Roman knew very well that, if Virgil would be telling him all this, he would say exactly what Virgil was saying right now. But it wasn’t Virgil telling him this, it was  _ him  _ telling it to  _ Virgil _ . So the roles were reversed. And when it came to himself… Roman had different rules than when it came to others. Even if it was stupid. He  _ knew  _ he set different standards for himself than for others, but he just couldn’t stop it. 

“It’s not,” Virgil told him softly. “It’s okay, Ro, really.”

Roman hummed. He didn’t really want to spend his night in Venice like this. This was  _ Venice _ . He should be having fun, not being sad over something that happened almost a year ago. He didn’t want to think of that right now. He just wanted to have fun on his trip. 

“Change of topic?” Virgil suggested, seeing that Roman was reluctant to continue the topic. His boyfriend gave him a sheepish smile that answered his question perfectly and he shook his head with a grin. “Fine. Tell me about the… elemental stuff. Or whatever that was.”

Roman nodded and told Virgil everything that he had been told that evening. He was glad to have something else to talk about. It was clear that Virgil was confused by all this and Roman couldn’t even blame him. Hell, it was confusing enough for him, so having to explain all this was difficult enough. It seemed that Virgil got the gist of it, though. And that’s what mattered. 

“Oh, by the way,” the young hero remembered after he had managed to explain most of the situation. “Beck? Very good looking.”

Of course. Virgil wasn’t even surprised at Roman’s comment. Roman was… a gay mess. Every waking moment of his life. Not that Virgil could judge him, because he was the same way. Just a little less dramatic than his boyfriend. 

“Oh, is he now?” Virgil asked with a fond smile. 

“Oh, definitely,” the hero said with a nod. “He has no business being like… that. Not that I don’t love you, but-”

“I get it, I get it,” the other interrupted with a chuckle. “You’re allowed to be gay. Not that I could ever stop you, but… I get it.”

Roman grinned, leaning in to peck his boyfriend’s cheek. “I love you,” he muttered, leaning his head on Virgil’s shoulder. “Have I ever told you that?”

“Maybe once or twice.” 

Roman smiled, and closed his eyes, enjoying his boyfriend’s company. In doing so, he finally let exhaustion catch up to him. He was tired after the events of today. And it was late, on top of that. But Roman hadn’t allowed himself to actually  _ feel  _ tired. He had to take care of his friends, he had to stay on guard, he couldn’t let anything happen. And just when he thought he could sleep, Hill came in with her speech. And then he had to talk to Virgil about all of this. But now… he was finally starting to feel tired. And that couldn’t have been clearer to Virgil. 

“We should sleep,” he said with a single look at his boyfriend. “Get some rest before tomorrow.”

Roman groaned softly, trying to protest despite knowing that Virgil was right. He couldn’t keep his eyes open for much longer. 

“Fine,” he finally sighed, getting up to walk over to his bag.

The two changed in silence, Roman’s mind constantly drifting and slipping away. He really hadn’t noticed how  _ tired  _ he was. A lot had happened today, and it was finally taking its toll, it would seem.

“Well,” Roman said as he sat down on his bed, grabbing his blanket. “Good night. Then. Love you.”

“Good night,” Virgil smiled at his boyfriend. “I love you too.”


	7. CHAPTER SIX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: panic, anxiety

The next morning, after packing up and having a mediocre breakfast, Roman and Virgil left the hotel with their bags in their hands, hoping to catch their friends alone so they — mostly Roman — could tell them what had happened the night before. About what Fury and Hill had said, Mysterio — the multiverse thing, too. And honestly, he just wanted to tell them about the suit. Sure, he’d sent them a brief text about it, to tell them about the news. But there was so much more he wanted to say that he didn’t feel fitting to talk about by text.

They waited outside the hotel for everyone to come out so they would walk to the bus that would take them to Paris. Roman was dying to talk to his friends about everything that happened since the last time he saw them, but with pretty much every other student around and waiting, it didn’t seem safe to him. He didn’t want to risk anyone overhearing them. They would just have to wait until they got on the bus. Hopefully there would be a chance to separate themselves from the rest so they could talk in peace. 

“So… Paris,” Roman said, trying to make some talk as he and his friends gathered in front of the hotel. “That’s awesome, right? Can’t wait.”

“Me neither!” Patton smiled excitedly. “Hey, I was thinking, maybe we could go out with the four of us tomorrow?”

“I’d absolutely love that,” Roman nodded with a smile, before nudging Virgil’s shoulder with his. “You still wanna try to visit the Eiffel Tower tonight?”

“As long as we’re not going up there,” the other responded, grabbing Roman’s hand with his free hand. 

The hero took this chance to bring their intertwined hands up to his lips to press a soft kiss on Virgil’s knuckles. “Of course,” he said softly. “You know I’d never make you do that.”

Just as Virgil opened his mouth, Harrington left the hotel. “Good news!” he called excitedly as he walked to the front of the group. “We’re going to Prague!”

There were confused noises and questions from everyone, Roman and friends included. It couldn’t be a coincidence that just last night, Fury and Hill said they needed Roman and Peter in Prague and now, suddenly they were going to Prague? Roman locked eyes with Peter not too far away and saw that his friend had come to the exact same conclusion. He had no idea which strings Fury had to pull to make this happen, but there was no way this was a coincidence. 

“Yeah, tour company called,” Harrington explained to them. “You should’ve heard me on the phone with them. I really gave them hell.”

“All I heard was crying,” Dell commented cynically. Roman nodded. That definitely sounded more like him. 

As the group walked in the direction of where the bus would be waiting for them, Virgil and Roman exchanged a quick look. Was Fury seriously so hellbent on getting them to Prague that he just… pulled a stunt like this? It seemed that he was. For whatever reason. He didn’t think they’d be so essential to the operation. 

The class rounded a corner and stumbled upon the bus that would take them to their new destination. It was large, black and so much fancier than anything that they would have gotten otherwise, if the hotel was anything to go by.

In front of the bus, was the man that Fury had introduced as Dimitri, holding a tablet saying ‘Midtown High’. If it wasn’t clear enough that Fury was behind all of this, it certainly was now. 

“For fuck’s sake,” Roman muttered under his breath as he turned to Virgil, who gave him a slightly confused look. “The bus driver? He was there yesterday. With Fury and Hill.”

“So… Fury set this up?”

“Who else?” Roman huffed. “It’s not a coincidence, that’s certain.”

They walked towards the bus, following the rest of the group. Roman turned around and made a face at Peter, who lingered to the back of the line, along with Ned. Peter scoffed softly and nodded, understanding exactly what Roman was trying to convey. 

Roman and Virgil took a seat near the back of the bus, where they could get the most privacy. The rest of their friends sat down on the chairs in front of them with Peter sitting on the other side of the aisle. 

“You know, I was only kidding when I said he’d kidnapped us,” Roman whispered to him as they put their bags away. Peter let out a soft chuckle and looked up at him with a smile. 

“Maybe you shouldn’t have said that,” he joked softly. 

The older teen nodded. “Maybe I shouldn’t have,” he agreed. “But hey, at least we were right. Although I would prefer… not to be right now.” Which was a first. Roman liked being right. But in this situation, he would have loved to be wrong more than anything. Because that meant they would still be going to Paris and their plans hadn’t just been turned upside down. That meant his friends wouldn’t be in danger because they happened to be in Prague just as a super powerful Fire Elemental attacked in an attempt to destroy the world. And that meant they wouldn’t have to risk their lives trying to stop that very same super powerful Fire Elemental from destroying the world. But hey… they couldn’t have everything they wanted, as it turned out.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Peter huffed as he sat down. 

“They say Prague’s really pretty this time of year,” Roman shrugged in a final attempt to be optimistic. “So… that’s something?”

Peter smiled as everyone started to settle down. “I suppose it is.” 

As the bus took off not much later, chatter arose. It was as if everyone allowed themselves to talk only when they were seated and actually moving. Nearly immediately, Patton turned around in his seat to look at his friends. 

“What was that you said last night?” he asked, turning to Roman. He made sure not to speak too loudly so the others wouldn’t hear what he was saying. Logan remained seated by it was obvious from the way he shifted a little closer that he was listening in on this. “You met Nick Fury?”

“Unfortunately so,” the hero responded with a nod. “They, he and Hill, they... wanted me and Pete to help fight some elemental creature from another dimension that’s supposed to attack and destroy the world. We refused, though. And you know where this monster is supposed to attack?” Patton remained quiet as he tilted his head and bit the inside of his lip, as if giving the other a signal to continue. “Prague.” 

Patton’s eyes widened in realisation before he knitted his eyebrows together. “Wait, but you refused?”

Roman nodded again. “Yeah,” he said. “We didn’t wanna break off our trip because that would be suspicious. Guess they found a solution to that problem.”

“So what are you gonna do now?” 

“No idea,” Roman shrugged. “I suppose there’s not much to do now. They clearly have a plan and I don’t think they’d take no for an answer. If they did, we would be going to Paris.”

Patton nodded, taking a moment to let this sink in. 

“They also gave me something Tony left me,” the other continued, starting to fidget with the bracelet around his wrist again as he said this. 

“Really?” Patton asked, leaning against the backrest. “What was it?”

“It’s…” Roman looked around, just to be sure that no one was paying attention to him. Of course they weren’t, but one could never be careful enough. “A nanotech suit he was working on. Still a work in progress, so maybe you guys can take a look at it when we get back home.”

It mostly meant Logan and all of them knew, seeing as he was easily the smartest of all of them. The guy was a fucking genius, able to compete with Bruce Banner, Tony Stark and Hank Pym. Hell, he made the tech on Roman’s suit from  _ nothing _ . And Roman was sure that he would just love to have a look at this suit and do his thing. Most definitely. He was a little nerd.

The ride to Prague would take a little over nine hours. About halfway through, somewhere in Austria, the bus stopped for a quick break. 

“Petrol and toilets,” Dimitri called as he got up to leave the bus. That was probably the first time he’d said anything. Roman was surprised to find out that he could even speak to begin with. “Ten minutes!” 

As he followed the rest of the group, Roman stopped just in front of the stairs of the bus, needing to take a moment to get used to their surroundings. After having been in a small bus for five hours, getting outside was quite overwhelming. He could sense all the buildings and people around him and it was a bit much all of a sudden.

Virgil, who had walked in front of him, turned around as he noticed his boyfriend wasn’t following. He walked back up the stairs to support him. “Are you okay?”

Roman nodded, giving the other a smile. He felt Peter’s eyes burning into his back — almost literally. “I’m fine,” he said, already walking back down. “Just… a little overwhelmed.”

By the time he got out of the bus, he already felt so much better, having gotten used to their surroundings. They seemed to be in what had to be a small village, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. There were a few small buildings around, including a small store, a gas station, strangely enough, and numerous other buildings that Roman could not figure out the function of, despite the signs above them. He just didn’t know German, okay?

The small group of friends walked into one of the shops to try and get some snacks and maybe sneak in a quick toilet break while they were at it. It had been five long hours after all. Roman was just glad to get some fresh air and movement after all those hours. As Virgil announced he was going to buy something to eat, Roman got some money out of his pocket.

“Can you get some for me as well?” he asked, holding the money out to his boyfriend. “Just… anything, really. I think I’ll be outside.”

Virgil nodded as he took the money, eyeing his partner closely. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Roman tried to reassure him — not quite succeeding. “I’m good, just… need some air. I guess. I’m fine, trust me.”

It was clear that Virgil wasn’t convinced, but he decided to let Roman do his thing and confront him about his weird behaviour when he’d managed to buy them some food. He could get food right now, and Roman had all the time in the world to act like the dumbass he truly was. 

After a quick toilet break, Roman went outside to get some air and space to think. He just… needed a moment. And being out here by himself, this seemed like the perfect time to take a moment. It wasn’t even the fact that they had to go to Prague and fight this Elemental that took up so much of his thought, but it was the fact that now, his entire class would be in danger  _ because  _ they suddenly relocated to Prague. Yes, they could fight the monster, but they’d just put about two dozen people in danger. And Fury  _ willingly  _ did that. Sure, fighting this monster with two extra people could be beneficial. But was it really worth it? Willingly endangering people just to get a better chance at fighting? Roman really wasn’t sure how he felt about it, and if he was happy about Fury’s choice. He understood it, but he was leaning towards a big nope on that second question. If anything happened to any of their classmates tonight… Fury would have to worry about much more than just a monster of fire, because Roman would be coming for his ass. Nick Fury or not, he wouldn’t get away with that. Even now, before anything had even happened, Roman was  _ so  _ tempted to kick Fury’s ass. So if anything went wrong… he’d have to watch his back.

Not long after Roman had gotten outside, his friends joined him, Virgil silently handing him a bag of chips. 

“Thanks,” the hero smiled as he took the bag. 

“Are you okay, Ro?” Patton asked worriedly. “You left so… quickly.”

Roman sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I am,” he promised his friend with a tiny smile on his face. “It’s just that I- I don’t know how to feel about this. About Fury doing…  _ this _ , putting you all in danger in the process. What if something happens to you while we’re out there, kicking fire ass? I don’t… I can’t exactly do anything about it now, but-” 

“It’s okay,” Patton said softly, taking one of Roman’s hands. “We’re gonna be fine. Just… find out where it’ll be and we’ll do our best to make sure we don’t go there, yeah? We can do this.”

“But what if-” Roman took a shaky breath. He could already see the outcome. His friends burning to death, caught up in the rubble of the chaos the monster created, or otherwise harmed. He could just  _ see  _ it happening. The hero took another breath, trying to steer his thoughts away from that. He knew he shouldn’t think about this, but he was so damn terrified of anything happening to his friends again. “You’re right,” he finally sighed. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Patton whispered as he gently pulled Roman a little closer so he could hug him. “It’s okay, Ro. We can do this, okay? It’s alright.”

“I know.” Roman closed his eyes, relishing the comfort of Patton’s hug. He felt so dumb reacting like this, but he couldn’t help it. He lost them before, he did not want to lose them again. “I know.”

The silence that followed between them was broken when Mister Dell call loudly for everyone to get back on the bus. 

“Let’s go, yeah?” Patton suggested carefully as he pulled away. 

“Yeah,” the hero nodded, not looking at any of his friends as they started moving in the direction of the bus. “Let’s.” 


	8. CHAPTER SEVEN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: arguing, mentions of possible death

Roman and his friends managed to pick the same seats they had occupied before their short pitstop. Peter was one of the last ones to come in, so he sat to the front of the bus. As the bus took off, everyone was talking loudly with new energy after their brief break. Roman didn’t pay much attention to any conversation, though. Instead, he leaned his head against the window and looked outside at the view. They were still in the middle of the mountains and the fact that he could see everything below them was equally beautiful and terrifying. The passing landscape was very calming, though. It gave him a chance to think. If he focussed enough on the view outside, he could even block out some of the information his telekinesis picked up. It was still there, but more numbed down. Not as prominent in his mind, but rather in the back of his head. His power was never annoying, but it was nice to have a little bit of a break from all of it. 

He was vaguely aware of a slight ruckus to the front of the bus, but didn’t bother paying attention until he heard someone ask someone else if they just punched Flash. Curious to see what had happened, Roman finally looked up to see Peter standing in the aisle, wearing Tony’s glasses, denying ever punching Flash. Which was probably a lie, but Roman was not going to pay attention to that. If anything, he was proud of his younger friend. Flash deserved to get punched in the face every now and then.

Roman then saw Peter turning around and extending a hand, just before the bus swerved to the right, throwing all its passengers to the side as Dimitri tried to regain control over the steering wheel, making a sharp turn to the left that sent them dangerously close to the edge of the road. Luckily, they only bumped into the guardrail before Dimitri managed to get back control. 

“Hey, this is not the autobahn!” Dell called out loudly to the driver as everyone tried to sit up again. There was a bit of conversation, but Roman didn’t mind. He knew that it must have been Peter who had made the bus swerve like that with his webs. Which was fine and all, except for the fact that they were in the mountains and this could easily have killed them. So all Roman was focussing on, was figuring out what reason Peter could have for this. The younger teen picked up the glasses he had dropped, staring at something behind them. 

“Peter, plant your fanny in that seat and buckle up right now!” Harrington called out as sternly as he could. However, this was only relative. Since it was Harrington, and he was not good at being stern.

“Look at the baby mountain goats!” Peter pointed at something outside the window in a clear attempt at getting himself out of the spotlight.

“Baby mountain goats?” Of course, Harrington was immediately distracted and looked outside, trying to find the baby mountain goats that Peter had claimed to be there. Most of their classmates were also trying to find the goats. Roman, however, still squinted at his friend, trying to find out why he was acting so weird. 

Peter jumped up, opening the escape hatch in the roof of the bus. Roman frowned and looked around outside, trying to find out what Peter was trying to do. When the hatch opened, Roman’s senses picked up on a lot of things outside the bus and they needed to adjust to this new information. 

Behind the bus, just before Peter’s webs took it down, the teen could see a small, flying object following the bus. Probably a drone. But who’d sent it? Why was that drone here? And what was it trying to do?

Soon enough, Peter dropped to the ground again and as the hatch fell shut above him, Roman’s powers were once again confined to only the bus. In a split second, the two heroes locked eyes and Roman frowned, jerking his head in the direction of the crashed drone. As a manner of response, the younger teen shook his head. Of course, this did not explain a lot, but from the lack of panic in this simple gesture, Creativity knew that it was not an enemy threat. Peter knew what was happening, at least. And that was enough for now. It didn’t seem like they were in danger, so Roman decided to ask about it later.

“I don’t see any mountain goats,” Harrington finally stated as he turned away from the window with a certain sense of disappointment.

Peter shrugged sheepishly. “You missed them.”

There was a brief silence as the rest of the group averted their attention from the outside, most returning to their regular business, not even bothering to pay attention anymore.

“I know you think none of us have noticed, Peter-” Betty started slowly, looking at Peter.

“What?”

“-but your new look… I love it,” she continued, disregarding Peter’s interruption. “Right babe?”

As Ned started talking about Peter’s new look, the latter fell down on his chair and Roman dropped his attention as well. Seemingly, the threat had been averted and that was all he cared about. A quick glance behind them confirmed that, indeed, no drones were following them anymore and Roman deemed it safe enough. If anything would happen, they could take care of that.

The rest of the ride went by without issues, though. They made it to Prague as the sun was starting to set and Roman noticed there were people everywhere. Carrying lanterns, or other forms of light. As if there was some kind of event going on — and there probably was; why else would these people be out here? 

When the doors to the bus opened, Roman once again had to blink a few times to get used to all the new information that flowed in, but after a few seconds, he was good enough to go on. He followed the rest of their class outside and met up with Peter as everyone was trying to get their luggage. 

“Hey,” he asked softly, looking around to make sure no one was in earshot. “What was that? In the bus?”

“I- it was an accident,” Peter stammered, looking at Roman with big eyes. “Brad had a- a photo of me, and he was going to show MJ so I got EDITH to try and delete it, but she-”

“EDITH?” Roman interrupted, tilting his head slightly. “The glasses?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, the glasses,” he said softly, looking down at his hands as he continued to explain himself. “So- she has access to Tony’s security network and defense satellites and I accidentally sent a killer drone after Brad but it was all an accident, I didn’t know she was gonna go that!”

Roman opened his mouth to respond, but it was only then that he truly understood what Peter had said. He had access to Tony’s security and defense system? Something that included killer drones? Had he even given an explanation on how this thing would work? Because Roman didn’t know about Peter, but if _he_ got his hands on something like that, he would like some kind of manual, or at least an explanation. Just the mere thought of having access to killer drones was terrifying to him. Yeah- he didn’t blame Peter at all for something like that. If it had been him, he’d probably managed to blow himself up in five seconds, so...

“It’s alright,” Roman assured his friend, putting a hand on his shoulder. “It was an accident, I get it. We’re all okay.”

Peter let out a soft breath and looked at his friend with a smile. “Yeah,” he said softly, “yeah. We are. I just…”

“Look, I don’t blame you,” he said softly. “I get it. Besides, we both know that, if it had been me, I would have gotten everyone killed, so… I can’t judge.”

They fell quiet as they walked to the hotel. Roman still didn’t know how he felt about this whole change of plans thing, but he had to admit- the look of the outside of the hotel alone was almost enough to make up for it. It looked fancier and more expensive than almost anything he’d ever been to — second to only the Avengers Compound, maybe. At least it wasn’t another rundown shack, like their hotel in Venice had been. So… thank Fury? Just a little bit. This didn’t redeem him yet.

When they entered, though, Roman realised that this was by far the fanciest building he’d ever been in. Avengers Compound? Sure, that was expensive and rich. But this place was straight up _fancy_. The entrance hall was big, white and bright. The doors to the lobby were opened for them by personnel, like only the real fancy places would do. The lobby was huge, almost reminiscent of a ballroom. It was white and bright, with a grand piano — and someone playing the piano. It was just… gorgeous. It must have been hugely expensive. 

A murmur went through the group as everyone looked around in awe, trying to believe that this was really their hotel. It did look way too fancy and expensive for them. Especially compared to Venice. 

“This is so classy,” a student said as they walked inside, followed by a few muttered agreements from other students. 

“Speak for yourself,” Flash scoffed behind Roman. “I’m home.”

The hero resisted the urge to punch the other in his arrogant little face and just settled for an eye roll. He wouldn’t get anywhere with violence. Although- that might give him a reason to go to his room and stay there as the others went out to do whatever it was the teachers had planned for them. That would make it easier to make an excuse if he had to deal with Fury or Hill again. But that might be a dumb move. Probably would cause more drama and problems than it was worth. So maybe not. Not now, at least. Maybe later.

The teenagers gathered in the middle of the lobby as their teachers approached. They were all waiting to see what they would say. It was nice to know what they could expect from the rest of their night, after all. 

“Everyone get settled in,” Harrington said as he approached the students with Dell by his side. “Rest up, because tonight, big surprise, is Prague’s annual _Carnival of Lights!_ ”

Apparently, this Carnival of Lights was a national holiday here. Especially in Prague was it a big thing, with festivities and fireworks. As Roman heard this, a nervous sensation rippled through his body. Of course _tonight_ would be the night that this fire monster would attack. With all these people outside, celebrating and having fun. Just great.

Roman’s eyes were drawn towards Peter, who walked away from the others with his phone to his ear. However, he quickly looked away when he realised that the keys to their rooms were handed out. Contradictory to the last hotel, they all had their own rooms. Which was a luxury, even if Roman would have actually liked to maybe share his room with a certain someone named Virgil. Sure, it was only for the night, but he liked the idea of having someone else in the room with him. There would be someone to talk to if he needed to talk, there would be someone to help him if he needed help, if he had a nightmare- there would be someone there. Especially Virgil, who had learned how to deal with him better than almost anyone in the year they had shared a room. But it was only for the night, so that would be just fine, right? It wasn’t as if he was planning on anything big tonight anyways. He wasn’t planning on fighting a big fiery monster that could potentially destroy the entire world or something equally terrifying. He didn’t need anyone else. 

Once everyone had their key, the teenagers were led up to the first floor, where they could find their rooms. Luckily, Roman’s room was next to Logan’s and close to the others’, so if there ever was anything, they’d be fairly easy to reach. 

As Roman was about to enter his room, Peter walked up to him. “Hey, man,” he said softly, looking around nervously as he held his hand out, holding on to something small, clearly wanting to hand this to this other. Wordlessly, Roman help up his hand. “It’s an earpiece. Hill called, she- we have to put it in and… wait for instructions.”

The other teen nodded, looking at the earpiece Peter dropped in his hand. “Got it,” he said. “I can’t wait for tonight.” 

Peter scoffed softly at his friend’s sarcastic tone. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Me neither.”

Everyone got settled into their rooms and dropped off the luggage. After that, they all split up into their normal groups as they went off to do their thing — mostly exploring the city for a little bit. 

Roman met his friends in the lobby of the hotel, having decided that they would go out in their group. Of course they would; there was no way that they’d split up and every single one of them. Even Remus and Janus were there because, even though they insisted on being their own clique, they very much always hung around the others. The fact that every single one of them knew about Roman’s secret identity definitely did help create a bond between the six of them.

As the group of six gathered, Roman updated them on the earpiece situation. It was clear that he wasn’t excited about the situation. It wasn’t that he didn’t _want_ to save the world. No, if he had to save the world, he _would_ . If he had no choice, he would do it, but he wasn’t content with _how_ it had all gone down. He wanted to help, but it felt too suspicious to just leave. Besides… Beck seemed to have it handled. He and Peter had barely done anything against the water monster, so what would they be able to do to the fire one? But… they were here now and there was no way of saying no anymore. There had never been a way of saying no. Because they _had_ said no, and Fury ignored that. 

“So…” Roman muttered as his friends were all present in the lobby. “Where do we go?”

A Logan started talking about some astronomical clock he had read about online that he most certainly wanted to see, the hero looked around the lobby, admiring its beauty. Despite being a dick, Fury arrange a killer hotel for them. And transport. That was an advantage to this whole operation — the only advantage, and Roman wasn’t sure if it was enough to redeem the man. 

“ _Parker, Prince_ ,” Fury’s voice suddenly spoke up in Roman’s ear, causing him to jump slightly. “ _Go outside. Dimitri will be waiting for you._ ”

“Never mind,” he sighed, giving them all an apologetic look before pointing towards his earpiece. “I think I need to see Fury and co.”

“Good luck,” Virgil said with a sympathetic smile. 

“Thanks,” Roman nodded. “And be careful. I don’t know when or where this fire thing is gonna attack.” He gave Logan a stare, knowing that he was the most responsible out of all of them. “I’m counting on you, nerd. Better keep them safe, yeah?” 

Logan responded with the slightest smile. “Of course, Roman,” he said, “you be careful yourself.”

“I’ll try my best.” Roman took a few steps back, locating Peter for himself. “I’ll… let you guys know if there’s anything else.”

The two young heroes made their way towards their ‘bus driver’, who stepped outside as soon as they approached. Neither of them knew exactly what to expect, but they knew that they couldn’t refuse this, so they followed Dimitri as he led them through Prague to a base In an old building. From the outside, it looked nearly abandoned, except for a few vague lights burning higher up. From the inside… it looked almost as abandoned. It wasn’t dusty or dilapidated. No, it was actually in fairly good state, but it was… dark and empty. It felt like one of those houses you’d see in horror movies. Old and abandoned — except for the creepy serial killer that lived there. The only difference being that, instead of a serial killer, they’d be meeting with Nick Fury. Although- maybe there wasn’t that big a difference between the two. Roman doubted that Fury was innocence itself. 

As they followed Dimitri through the dark halls, Roman was relieved he had the ability to sense everything around him, so he wouldn’t have to fear about walking into anything on his path. The big hallway was way too dark to be comfortable. 

They walked up the stairs to the third floor. Almost as soon as they got there, it was like they stepped into another building entirely. Sure, it wasn’t brightly lit, but there was _light_. They could actually see where they were going. No creepy shadows in the darkness — only the creepy shadows in the very weak light. Which, of course, was different. Dimitri led them into a big room that was way better lit than the hallway. It was almost normal. There was even a fire in the fireplace on the other side of the room. 

Unlike the base in Venice, this room was almost rather busy. Two long tables to the walls on the side were filled with computers, every single one of them occupied by someone, as well as a table in the middle of the room. And on top of all those people, Beck, Fury and Hill were there too. Obviously. They wouldn’t have called the teens here if they weren’t present. That would just be dumb. 

Fury looked around as the door opened, giving the three newcomers a one-eyed look. “Good,” he spoke with a soft nod. “You’re here.”

“Not like we had much choice but sure,” Roman muttered under his breath, only allowing Peter to hear him. And Dimitri, but he wasn’t the most talkative, so that didn’t… count. He wouldn’t respond. It made sense. Peter smiled at his friend, in a way relieved that he wasn’t here all by himself. Having someone here with him was a huge help. 

The two teens joined the group all the way in the back and Roman couldn’t help but notice Fury’s look. A stare so intense that he could almost sense it with his telekinesis. What was up with that guy? Had they done something wrong that he didn’t know about? Or something they _did_ know about? Roman couldn’t think of anything they could have messed up, but he had learned quickly that Nick Fury wasn’t an easy man to read. So maybe they should’ve read between the lines at some point? Did they miss anything?

However, as the teens walked up to the rest and got their introductions out of the way — met by a minute nod from Hill and a smile from Beck — Fury tore his eye away, finally deciding to get to something more important; what they were going to do. 

“Mister Beck,” he said, clapping his hands together as he turned to the interdimensional hero. “Care to tell the kids what you told us?”

Quentin nodded. “Of course,” he said as he looked at the two teenagers. “The Fire Elemental will be here in a few hours. If he will follow the same path he did last time, he will show up in the Old Town Square in the centre first. We need to be there as soon as possible and make sure it does not move any further.”

“The city centre?” Roman asked, thinking back to the festivities. The centre of the city seemed like a _horrible_ place to attack first. Or- perfect, depending on your stance. It would give way for a lot of destruction and casualties, that was for sure. Especially now, with the Carnival of Lights happening. A lot of people would be outside, and if Roman knew things like this- a lot of those people would be in or near the city centre. “Are you sure?”

“I’m afraid so,” Beck said with an apologetic smile.

“There’s gonna be a lot of people there.” Of course everyone already knew that. But Roman couldn’t go around not saying that. It was a legitimate concern that needed to be discussed after all. 

“That’s why we need to make sure he doesn’t leave the centre,” Quentin said confidently. “Make sure everyone can get away in time.”

Roman crossed his arms. Yeah, that sounded logical. Of course they had to get people to safety. He refused to even think about battling this dangerous monster with innocent civilians around. “How do we do that?”

“We need to watch out for the Elemental.” Creativity nodded as he listened to the man’s explanation. So far, it seemed fairly obvious. “You and Peter need to get up somewhere high, where you can see the entire square. There’s a few vantage points where you can get a good view. The cathedral, town hall. You look out for the Elemental and the moment you see something, you inform us. I will come in. Hopefully we’ll be able to defeat it before it’s too late.”

He sighed and looked down, toying with the ring on his right hand again, clearly deep in thought. Roman gave him a sympathetic look as he nodded. 

“I can take town hall,” he offered, “Peter can go for the cathedral, we’ll keep an eye on the square from there. Sound good?” He gave a look at both Beck and Peter. He also glanced at Fury for a moment, but he felt like the others were slightly more important. Fury wasn’t going to be there fighting with them, after all. 

“Yeah,” Quentin said, giving Roman a minute smile that looked way cuter than it had any business looking. Peter nodded, but he stared at the flames in the fireplace, apparently lost in thought, some place far away from here. 

“Parker?” Fury asked, sensing the teen’s absence. However, he got no response. “ _Parker!”_

Roman turned to Peter as his friend turned around, in shock. It was clear that he had gotten distracted somewhere in the middle of their plan-making. Even if it was more of a ‘let’s listen to Quentin Beck talk about the things he knows and the plan he’s already kind of made and then offer a little bit of input to make me feel a little better about myself because now I can say that I helped’- kind of situation. 

“Are we boring you?” Fury really had no chill, huh? Roman started to think that he wasn’t even human at all, but just some robot pretending to be a human. Surely he would understand that this entire situation was stressful as hell? Especially for someone who didn’t want to do this in the first place and _especially_ for someone who had been practically forced to come here while his friends were also in the city that was about to be attacked by some dangerous as shit fire monster. 

“He’s not bored,” Beck commented bluntly, “he’s just thinking about how you kidnapped him.”

“He had obstacles,” Fury retorted calmly, even though it was clear from his voice that he was anything but amused. “I _removed_ them.”

“Still kidnapping,” Roman muttered. “It’s not as if you listened to us yesterday, so…”

“They still won’t evacuate the city,” Hill interrupted, turning away from whatever she had previously been doing. 

“Idiots,” Fury sighed in exasperation. Probably the first sign of emotion he had seen coming from the man which honestly… was a surprise. Nice to see he was capable of _some_ emotion. Even if it was anger. 

Roman couldn’t even say he blamed him. It was a dumb idea to just… not evacuate. If this monster was as dangerous as Beck claimed, it was a really idiotic move to let all these people party on like the world wasn’t possibly about to end in a few hours. And maybe he was a little bit biased because his friends would possibly be out there with all the other people. Unless he found a reason to keep them inside. And the rest of the class. And preferably, the rest of Prague along with them. 

“So, what’s the plan, Parker?”

“I will be in the cathedral tower,” Peter answered slowly, casting a quick look at his friend. “Roman will take the town hall, keeping watch for the fire monster. When that shows up, we will radio you guys and then Mister Beck and we will-”

“My name is Mysterio,” Beck interrupted, giving the teenager a fake glare. 

Peter smiled at the older hero and continued, turning back to Fury. “That’s when _Mysterio_ and we will move in.”

“Kids, listen to me,” Quentin said, drawing the attention back to him. “The best hope you have, the only hope, is to stop it here, now. No matter what the cost. Maneuver it away from civilians if you can. But most important, keep it away from metal. If it gets too big, it’ll be able to draw power from the Earth’s core. After that, there’s no way to stop it.”

That was… not very hopeful. The thought of this monster even being able to destroy the Earth was quite worrisome, and Roman would like not to be reminded of that. Especially so shortly before they were supposed to fight that exact same monster and prevent it from destroying the Earth.

“Look, you’re a cool guy, but if you wanna do this hero thing on this Earth, you _need_ to work on your motivational speeches, okay?” Roman joked softly as he crossed his arms; a hardly successful attempt at masking how this new information worried him. They were just going to fight a monster that could draw power from the fucking Earth’s core if they messed up. No pressure, right? 

Mysterio managed a small smile. “I’ll try.”

Roman returned the smile weakly before locking eyes with Peter, who looked about as worried as he felt. Their situation seemed to be getting worse by the minute. All this new information was- not good. Very much not good. 

“Hey, man,” Peter finally spoke up, the hesitance more than obvious in his voice. “My friends are here, and I can’t help but think we’re putting them in danger-”

“You’re worried about _us_ hurting your friends?” Fury asked with an incredulous scoff. He got up, slowly walking towards Peter. As he did this, Roman eyed the man closely. If he was being honest, he didn’t fully trust Fury, nor did he like him. The fucker better not try anything. “ _You_ , who called a drone strike on your own school tour bus? Stark gave you a multibillion-dollar A.R. tactical intelligence system, and the first thing you do with it, is try and blow up your friends. It’s clear to me that you were not ready for this. ”

“Yeah, I think that’s quite enough,” Roman said with a slight glare at Fury before he focused on Peter. It was clear that the younger teenager was not going to say anything to this, even if Fury was way out of line. Peter was way too sweet for that and while it was a great quality about him, he also shouldn’t allow people to say crap like that. Not even people like Nick Fury. He had no fucking right to be a jerk like that. “Do we have anything else to discuss or are we done here?”

He finally looked up at Fury again, who met this gaze with an incredulous smile on his lips, as if he wasn’t sure that this eighteen-year old actually said that to him. He didn’t give a clear response, though.

Regardless, Peter left the room almost immediately, without even looking back. Roman opened his mouth to call after his friend, but the door was already closing before he could. Beck and Roman exchanged a quick look. It was clear that Quentin was as worried about Peter as the teen was. Well, almost as worried. It might not be possible for the older hero to be quite at the level of worry as Roman was. Not after Titan. 

“Do you-”

Roman shook his head at the unfinished question. “You should go.” In any other case, he would have ran after Peter without even a second glance. But In this case- he wanted to take care of something first. “I still have a few questions I need to ask. I might be there soon, though.”

Quentin nodded, making his way towards the door with a quick nod towards Fury. He gave Roman a slight smile as he walked in the direction of the door. When the hero left, the room remained uncomfortably quiet, Fury clearly waiting for the teenager to make the next move. Roman paced around a little bit, his arms still in front of his chest. He stopped in front of the window, looking out over the city for a second. He hoped Peter was okay. He would love to go after him, make sure he was doing good, but Beck was on it now. And besides… he needed to make something clear first. 

“With all due respect,” he started slowly, still looking at the lights of the city, not too far below them — although right now, ‘all due respect’ wasn’t exactly a whole lot. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a bit of a dick, mister Fury?" 

Fury scoffed, having trouble believing that this _teenager_ said this to him. "Excuse me?" 

“You don’t actually think Peter _wanted_ to send that drone at Brad, do you?” The teen whipped around, sending a glare at the man, very much not intimidated by him, despite him being _Nick Fury_ . “You really don’t think he sat there, thought about his options, and went ‘You know what? I’m gonna kill Brad. That sounds like a great solution to my all problems’, right?” He kept his eyes fixated on Fury as he took a few slow steps closer to the man. “I think you know just as well as I do who we’re talking about. Pete would _never_ intentionally hurt anyone. It was a mistake, for fuck’s sake! Everyone makes them. Sure, this could have gone pretty bad, but he fixed it and I think that’s more important than what _could_ have happened. Besides, Peter wasn’t the one who decided he’d get those glasses, this wasn’t up to _him_ . And you wanted to talk about Tony, right? Sure. Let’s talk about how his recklessness got his mansion blown up by an enemy. Let’s talk about that time he made Ultron. He fucked up, too. Let’s talk about Cap, or Clint, or _me_ if you need to so badly. We all made mistakes with shitty consequences. And I don’t hear you bitching about any of that. No one is without flaws. And I don’t believe you’re an exception. Everyone makes mistakes and you can’t tell me that you haven’t, so think of that first. Peter is a damn _kid_ who has been given what has to be one of the most advanced pieces of technology in existence right now, so give him a fucking break, will you?”

It remained silent for a while as Roman stared at Fury, unrelenting. Anyone seeing this from a distance would probably laugh at scene before them; a teenager glaring so intently at a man who was taller, more powerful, and probably stronger than he was. But Roman didn’t let that difference hold him back. He’d stood face to face with bigger threats than one man and he came out of that alive. If he had survived against the power or four Infinity Stones, if he had survived standing up to a full army of aliens, he could survive standing opposite Nick Fury. 

He clenched his fist and in the back of his mind, he could feel his telekinesis involuntarily focussing on the smaller table behind him as he did this but in all honesty, he couldn’t care less right now. If he had to accidentally smash a table to get his point across, so be it. 

“We can’t afford to make mistakes like that,” Fury responded coolly, not taking his eyes off the kid in front of him. He was just as stubborn as Roman was and neither of them seemed to be willing to surrender.

“We couldn’t afford to let Thanos win either, but look what happened there.” This was more of a personal issue with himself rather than anything else. It had been almost two years since they lost against Thanos, but Roman still couldn’t seem to get over that moment. He couldn’t seem to stop blaming himself. Yes, they won eventually, but that didn’t make the initial loss any easier. That didn’t ease the guilt he felt. “We can’t afford to make most mistakes but there’s not much we can change now. The least you can do is not be a dick about it.”

Roman noticed that his pull on the table seemed to increase and he unclenched his fist, not letting go completely, but at least decreasing his hold on the object and prevent it from flying across the room. “You know what? Never mind,” he sighed, giving Fury a sharp smile before he could even start to respond. “I don’t want to do this. So let’s leave it at that. I’ll be in position in an hour.”

Without another word, the teen stormed out, throwing the double doors open with his powers. He also used his powers to slam them shut behind him, quickly making his way out of the building.


	9. CHAPTER EIGHT

When Roman got outside, he took a few moments to take a breath, calming himself down at least a little bit. Even though he was still pissed off at Fury. But he reasoned there was no use in lingering on this too long. He couldn’t change anything about this situation anymore. But he was still furious. 

After a little bit of walking, Roman could vaguely sense the presence of two people on the roof above him. He didn’t know Beck too well, but he knew, without a doubt, that the second person just _had_ to be Peter. So, he conjured up a grappling gun to get him to where the others were, shooting it up to latch onto the ledge of the building.

“I hope you guys don’t mind if I joined you,” Roman muttered as he jumped on the roof, quickly sitting down next to Peter before either of the two could even respond. 

“There you are,” Quentin commented as he looked at the teenager, raising an eyebrow. “What did you two talk about?”

“Oh, nothing much,” the teen brushed off with a chuckle, “I just… called Fury a dick and went on a bit off a rant to tell him to not be a dick.”

Peter gave him an incredulous smile. “Are you serious?”

“Of course I am,” Creativity grinned. “I mean… he’s been a bit of a dick these past two days and you guys weren’t going to call him out on it, so… I reasoned  _ someone  _ had to do it around here.”

“How did he respond?” Beck asked, giving Roman an amused look. 

As a manner of response, the teen shrugged. “I mean, he wasn’t too thrilled about it, but I’m still on the case. I’m still alive, so… it could have been worse. I left rather quickly, too, so maybe I just left before it could get worse.”

Beck chuckled softly. “I’ve got to hand it to you,” he started with a small smile. “That takes some guts, kid. I don’t think Nick Fury is the type of man to take that well.”

“I’ve encountered worse than Nick Fury,” Roman said simply. “So it's all good. I just can’t stand by and let someone be a jerk to my friend. A jerk is a jerk, no matter their name tag. And when someone is a jerk, I gotta do something about it. Especially when it comes to Peter.” 

He bumped his shoulder against his friend's, who chuckled as he turned his head away with just the slightest bit of embarrassment — albeit amused. "Shut up, man," he murmured with a shake of his head. 

"What can I say?" Roman asked teasingly — even if he truly meant this. "Someone's gotta look after our Itsy Bitsy Spider, right?"

"You're literally only two years older than I am."

"I know," Roman nodded. He couldn't exactly debate that, could he? "You're still tiny."

Peter rolled his eyes and looked at his hands with a small smile. “I think we should head back,” he then said, looking at Roman, who nodded. 

“You’re probably right,” he confirmed. It was getting late and they needed to get back to the class before anyone got worried. And they needed to figure out how to keep their classmates inside and away from the festivities.

“See you out there then,” Peter said with a smile at Mysterio. He then gave Roman a look and nodded his head down, already getting ready to get down himself. Hopefully, they’d be able to arrange something else before they would have to go to the carnival. Something that would keep everyone else away from the path of the fire monster while they tried to save the world.

“Seems like we’re leaving,” Roman told Beck as Peter already jumped down. “So… I’ll see you there.”

“Yeah,” Quentin responded, giving the teen another one of those unfairly pretty smiles. “See you there, kid.”

“I’m legally an adult, but… sure,” Roman muttered jokingly as he jumped down as well guiding himself to the ground with his telekinesis to ensure that he would not get himself injured. 

When he made it back to the ground, Roman saw Peter already standing in the alley below, wearing Tony’s glasses. “If you send a drone after me, I swear to God,” he joked softly, making sure there was no one around to overhear this. 

Peter rolled his eyes with the hints of a smile. “Shut up,” he said, nudging his friend in the ribs. Roman simply stuck out his tongue as a response, eliciting a chuckle from Peter. “Okay, EDITH? I eh- I need a way to keep my friends inside the next few hours.” He paused for a few moments, seemingly listening to something that Roman could not hear. “Eh- when will that start? Oh, yeah- yeah, sure, do that. Thanks.”

Roman eyed his friend curiously as he took off the glasses, fumbling to put them back in their case once more. “So?” he asked as he tilted his head. “What are we settling on?”

Peter shook his head as he started to head in the direction of where their hotel was supposed to be. “The opera,” he muttered. “She could get tickets for an opera here.”

“The opera?” Roman raised his eyebrows in amusement. He would personally have loved to see an opera, but he couldn’t imagine that much of his peers would feel the same way. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but for some odd reason, they didn’t strike him as opera people. 

“It’s four hours,” Peter reasoned with a shrug. “So I figured… they’d be safe, right?”

“That for sure,” the older teen snorted. “I’m curious to see how they’ll manage that, though.”

Peter smiled, looking at his friend. “Yeah,” he said softly. “Me too.”

The two walked back to their hotel, both lost in their own thoughts. Roman noticed how quiet these streets were. It was so calming and comforting. If there hadn’t been the looming threat of another possible world-ending event, he would even be able to enjoy it. But there was so much going on right now that he could not bring himself to do it. 

“Roman?” Peter suddenly broke the silence, although his voice was so soft it could have been lost in the static just as easily. Roman looked up with a soft hum, encouraging his friend to continue. “What exactly did you say to Fury after I… left?”

Roman snorted, hiding his hands in the pocket of his jacket. “Do you want what I actually said, or do you want the PG-version?”

“Actual version, please.”

Creativity smiled softly, looking at his feet for a second before turning back to Peter. “Alright.” He took a breath before starting. “Basically… I told him to stop being such a dick. You didn’t want to fire that drone, you didn’t mean for anything to happen. It was just a mistake, everyone makes mistakes, he shouldn’t be such a dick about it. Let’s just keep it at that.”

With a laugh, Peter looked at his friend. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Roman smiled, taking a few steps to the side to he could nudge his shoulder against Peter’s. “Like I said up there, I can’t let someone be an asshole to my friends. You know me.”

“I know.” Peter gave his friend a small smile before he averted his gaze to look at his feet. “But still. Thanks.”

Not long after, the two teenagers made it back to the hotel. Just in time, apparently. Because when they stepped into the lobby, the rest of their group just seemed to gathered in the middle of the lobby, a good portion of them donning accessories made of glowsticks, ready for the festival. That they wouldn’t be going to. Which sucked for them, but it was for their own safety. If only he could tell them that. 

The two teens managed to catch up with their friends slightly, but it wasn’t long before their teachers finally joined. 

“Good news,” Harrington announced as he and Dell got to the front of the group. “We’re going to the opera!”

As expected, this caused for a fair bit of confusion and upset reactions from the group, several indignant exclamations coming from the students. 

“Don’t look at me.” Dell was seemingly just as dissatisfied as the students were, and Roman couldn’t quite blame any of them. As much as he loved the opera, he would’ve been slightly disappointed too if he had prepared to go to the festival but instead, found out they were going to do something else entirely just a few minutes beforehand. 

“What happened to the carnival?” MJ asked, voicing the thoughts of probably everyone else. Minus Peter and Roman. 

“This is upgrade living guys,” Harrington said, still trying to get everyone to see how incredible this could be. “Come on, the tour company just  _ gave  _ us these tickets, for free! Do you know how much opera tickets cost?”

“No. Because no  _ sane  _ person had ever wanted to go to the opera ever,” Flash said. This statement was accompanied by an eyebrow raise aimed at Roman, knowing that both Roman and Remus were an exception to this rule. Roman just gave him a blank stare in return, hardly impressed. If Flash was trying to insult him, he really had to do better.

“Eh- I think this is gonna be culturally enriching for us,” Ned said, trying to help out their teacher with getting the rest as least slightly excited for this. 

“Yeah,” Roman jumped in with an excited nod — not even having to fake it. “Are you kidding me? Operas are amazing, this should be great!”

“Thank you, guys,” Harrington nodded, relieved to see that at least a few students were looking forwards to this experience. “Everyone, this is gonna be maybe the best four hours of our whole trip.”

As soon as their teacher mentioned the length of the opera, Roman braced himself, already knowing this would open the floodgates to a whole new kind of protest. And he wasn’t wrong. Protests arose all around him. 

“Guys, I think this is gonna be fun,” Ned said, still trying to get the rest of the class on his side. “Seriously!”

Harrington nodded, waiting until the protests died down. “Alright, go change into your good clothes, everyone,” he announced to them. “We’ll meet back in here twenty minutes.”

The class got up and immediately a murmuring arose in the lobby, everyone talking — and possibly complaining — to their friends about the sudden change of plans. No one really seemed to be content, but Roman knew that this was for their own sake. He wanted to go to the festival just as much as they did, but they couldn’t die on his watch. 

“What the hell was that about?” Virgil asked as he caught up with Roman. “Were you behind that?”

“It was more Peter than me, but… yeah sort of,” the hero responded. “The Elemental is gonna target the city centre, we couldn’t risk it.”

“How did you manage that?” Patton wanted to know as he followed the rest of his friends in the direction of their rooms. 

Roman shrugged. “Peter used the glasses he got from Tony,” he simply said. “I don’t know the rest. I didn’t do shit, I was just there.”

Patton nodded with a smile, accepting this answer. It didn’t seem like he was going to get anything better. Not out of Roman, at least. He wasn’t the one behind all of this, after all. If they wanted details, they had to ask Peter.

The students all went into their rooms to change into the formal clothes they had been told to bring out to the trip. Just in case… they were going to an opera, or whatever reason. 

Roman stepped out of his room, wearing a red blazer and white dress shirt, along with black pants. The moment he stepped into the hallway, he saw Virgil, on his phone looking simply incredible in simple black pants and a purple dress shirt, making Roman’s heart start beating faster in gayness. 

“Well, hey there,” he grinned, walking up to his boyfriend. “You look absolutely incredible.”

“At least someone thinks so,” Virgil responded, clearly uncomfortable wearing these clothes that were so much more formal than anything he was used to. “You don’t look too bad yourself.”

Roman smiled and pulled Virgil a little closer, kissing him gently. “I love you,” he murmured softly, pressing their foreheads together for a second. He then kissed Virgil’s nose and pulled away, just as a door to their right opened. 

“Ew, get a room,” Remus grinned as he saw the two of them so close together. 

“Shut up,” Roman muttered with a shake of his head, wrapping his arm around Virgil. Remus just reacted with a teasing smile as he joined the two of them, waiting for the rest of their group. He wore a black suit with the bright green shirt he’d been trying to find for ages, mainly just to bring on the trip in case they would need to wear the formal clothes they’d been told to bring. He doubted it would happen but… here they were.

Janus came out next, wearing a simple black suit with white dress shirt. Logan, unsurprisingly, wore a black dress shirt with dark blue tie because… he honestly just liked that combination. Seemed to be his go-to choice in any circumstance that allowed it. Patton went for black pants as well and a blue dress shirt. They were all looking fancy and cute out here. 

“Well, if we’re all present,” Logan said, pushing up his glasses a bit, “”shall we? We wouldn’t want to be late.”

He emphasized the final word with a glance at Roman that told the others he was not talking about the opera. Not only about the opera, at least. But he was right. Roman needed to get in position on time. 

“You’re right,” Roman nodded. “Let’s go.”

On their way to the theatre, Virgil took a few looks at his boyfriend, trying to figure out what was going on in his head. There was definitely  _ something  _ going on, but what it was… it could be anything. 

“Are you okay?” he asked carefully, maintaining eye contact with Roman, who nodded and quickly looked down. 

“Yeah, yeah I’m good,” he said softly. “I just- I’m thinking about later tonight. About what will happen, mostly.”

Virgil nodded. “I get that,” he said. “But you’ve got this. You’re not alone.”

“I know,” Roman replied. “I just hope we don’t fuck up too bad. Apparently, this Elemental has destroyed at least one Earth. So… I just don't want to mess up.”

“I’m sure you won’t,” Virgil said as he grabbed Roman’s hand in his. “I believe in you.”


	10. CHAPTER NINE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: fighting, think that's it

The class finally made it to the Vinohrady theatre; a large and imposing building, decorated with large statues and pillars inspired by the Ancient Romans. It looked absolutely incredible and Roman could easily find himself staring at this for the rest of the night. If he would have the time for that, obviously. Which he didn’t. 

From the inside, it looked even more gorgeous. It was beautifully decorated, exactly what you’d picture when thinking of a theatre fancy enough to perform operas like these. Even just being here made his inner theatre-nerd self giddy in excitement. It was a shame he’d have to leave so soon. 

Roman, along with his friends, lingered outside the auditorium as everyone else entered. Clearly, it wasn’t busy in the theatre. Obviously. Everyone was out celebrating. 

“So… what’s the plan?” Janus asked, eyeing Roman cautiously. 

“You stay here,” Roman shrugged. “No matter what. Peter and I will make up an excuse about why we’re leaving and then take up positions.”

Janus scowled slightly. “Shocker,” he muttered under his breath. “No, I mean what is _your_ plan, smartass. What are _you_ going to do?”

“I mean… like I said,” the hero said slowly, considering his words. “I really… don’t have a full tactic yet. We’ll just have to see.”

“You’re so dumb.”

“I know, thank you.”

“Are you gonna be okay?” Patton asked, taking a good look at his friend, who shot him a reassuring smile in return. 

“Not gonna lie, I would be a lot more chill if I knew you guys wouldn't be here,” he answered honestly. “But I’ll be fine. With Pete and Beck there, I’m sure it’ll be okay. It just sucks that you guys are here now too. But as long as you promise you’ll stay here… that would be a step in the right direction, I think.”

“Of course,” Patton smiled confidently. “Of course we will. You stay safe too, yeah?”

“I will do my best.” Roman hugged his friends one by one. “You should go inside before they come out here. Love you guys.” 

There as a soft murmur from the others as they hugged him, told him to stay safe, be careful. Then, they went into the auditorium. Except for Virgil, who waited outside with Roman, who pretended to check something on his phone while keeping an eye on Peter, who was inside. All in an attempt to make him less suspicious. 

“ _Are you in position?_ ” Fury demanded over their earpieces, almost startling Roman. 

“No,” he responded, seeing how Peter was too wrapped up in a conversation with MJ to respond.

“ _Why the hell not?_ ”

Roman rolled his eyes. What was the deal with him and Hill being so damn impatient all the time? Sure, they had to save the world and that was a big deal, but couldn’t either of the two understand that they needed a bit of time to find a moment to leave? They couldn’t just get up and go. 

“Fuck’s sake, Fury,” Roman sighed, giving a frustrated glance at nothing. Virgil eyed him with confusion, causing the other to start typing something on his phone. “Give us a bit of time to get out of here safely, yeah?”

On the other side of the line, Roman could just hear the frustration, despite the silence. _“Just get your asses in position_ ,” Fury ordered. “ _We can’t afford to lose any more time._ ” 

Roman rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, be there in a sec.” He held up his phone, showing Virgil what he had typed. _‘Fury is a dick’,_ it simply read. Virgil scoffed and nodded in compassion. 

From the corner of his eye, the teen saw MJ walking in the direction of their seats and he walked up to Peter. They really needed to get out of here as soon as possible. As much of a jerk as Fury was… maybe he wasn’t wrong. They had to save the world, after all.

“You ready?” Roman asked as he walked up to his friend, who gave him a small smile.

“Yeah, yeah I’m ready,” he said, taking a moment to seemingly think about something before turning to Virgil. “Could you tell MJ I’m… sick, or something? And…” 

“I went back to the hotel with him,” Roman quickly jumped in, seeing the gears still working in his friend’s brain, trying to come up with an excuse.

“Will do,” Virgil nodded. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Roman said with a smile, kissing his boyfriend’s lips gently. “I’m sure we’ll manage. Probably.”

Virgil gave him a small smile, before he walked away to the others. Just as Roman and Peter were about to leave, Ned and Betty walked up to them. Betty walked past them, but Ned stopped looking at the two of them.

“Oh hey, you’re leaving?” he asked, locking his eye on Peter, who nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m not… feeling great. So we’re going back to the hotel.”

Ned nodded, understanding what Peter as implying with this. “Okay,” he said softly, looking between the two of them. “Be careful. And whatever you do, please lead the monster away from the opera house.”

Roman bit his tongue to stop himself from telling Ned that no, they were actually planning on leading the fire monster that could literally destroy the entire world towards the place where some of the most important people in their lives would spend the evening, instead just giving him a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, Ned,” Peter responded. “I know.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah.”

“We gotta go.” Peter looked towards his older friend and nodded his head towards the door. They really needed to leave now, before anyone would come up to them with difficult questions that they didn’t have an answer to. It would only help to make them more suspicious and cost them time. And while Roman didn’t particularly care, he was sure that Fury would have their heads if they were any later.

So, the two teen heroes walked towards the door, just as the curtains rose and the music started playing. Roman caught Peter catching a wistful look at the group in the audience, probably wishing he could be there, instead of having to save the world while he just wanted to enjoy his vacation. Roman couldn’t quite blame him. 

Having noticed Peter’s absence, Brad decided to close the gap between him and MJ, casting a look in the direction of the door, where he could just see the two others. He gave Peter a glare and flipped him off. Despite it not being aimed at him, Roman responded with two middle fingers. No one was allowed to be rude to Peter in any way, damn it. 

Peter looked like he was about to go throw hands with Brad — quite understandably — but before Roman could try to stop him, Fury felt like it was time to boss them around again. Fucking Fury. Even though this timing was… quite alright. 

“ _You better be on your way.”_

“Yeah, yeah,” Roman muttered as he and Peter turned away. “Be more chill, we’re on our way.”

Next to him, Peter snorted as he attempt at a joke. Well. Even if this mission failed, he’d achieved something today. So that was… something. 

The two teens made their way over to their assigned positions — Peter taking a bit longer due to having to change. When Roman took his spot on top of the roof of the town hall, he blinked a few times, momentarily getting overwhelmed by all the people around on the square. He knew that it was a national holiday but his telekinesis was going crazy with all the information it had to process. The fireworks weren’t helping either. He recovered quite quickly, though, although he still felt a little lightheaded. But that would fade away soon enough. 

“I’m in position,” he announced, scanning the square blow him. “Nothing seems out of place yet.”

But then again, he didn’t know what it was supposed to be like normally. It felt normal, anyways. Like a town square was supposed to feel like. 

_“Alright, I’m in position,”_ Peter announced after a little while. Roman looked up at the tower where he was supposed to be and saw a small, black figure. _“Eh- as soon as I see something, Beck, I’ll eh- I’ll let you know.”_

 _“Roger that,”_ the third hero spoke over their earpieces. Roman turned his attention back to the townsquare, feeling a slight nervousness in his stomach. It wasn’t the first big thing he had gotten involved in — it probably wasn’t even the biggest thing he had gotten involved in — but it was the only big thing he was expecting to happen. Thanos, both times, just… happened. Caught him off guard with no time to think about it. But this… he knew this was coming. He was waiting for it to happen. And that was way more terrifying than anything else. 

_“How’s the suit?”_ For a second, Roman wondered why the hell Fury would ask him about his suit. It wasn’t the first time he’d worn it. Sure, the first time he’d use it in battle but he didn’t know how it would be in combat. But then he realised that Peter also had a new suit. Made on Fury’s command. So it would make a little more sense for the question to be directed at Peter.

 _“Eh, the suit’s great,”_ Peter responded. _“It’s awesome. It’s a little tight around the ol’ webshooter-”_

“Seriously, Pete,” Roman said with an amused snort. Even though he was nervous as hell, he was glad that he wasn’t in on this alone. He was glad there was someone else to lighten the mood a little bit. 

_“Parker!”_ Clearly, Fury wasn’t as amused by Peter’s comment. Of course he wasn’t. He probably hadn’t ever been in a good mood.

_“Okay, I’ll shut up.”_

“I mean, it’s a valid criticism,” Creativity muttered under his breath, keeping an eye out for anything weird. He knew he might not be able to rely on his powers completely to alert him when something was up, so he needed to be alert. 

A few minutes had passed, when something seemed to be happening. Roman could feel it but he didn’t know exactly what it was. Then, he heard Fury. 

_“Energy spiking.”_

_“We have seismic activity,”_ Hill added. At this point, the nervous butterflies in Roman’s stomach had multiplied. A lot. This was it, then, right? Had to be.

This suspicion was confirmed when he felt the pedestal on the statue in the middle of the square starting to crumble. The heat vision on his suit picked up on some weird spikes in the air around the statue as well, but when he looked closely, there seemed to be nothing there. Maybe it was the Elemental’s powers messing up his heat vision. After all… it was a Fire Elemental. “Keep an eye on the statue,” he called to the others. “It’s cracking. I’m getting weird energy readings as well, so keep an eye out.” 

Right as he said this, the statue started to crack, slowly being consumed by what looked like lava as people ran away in terror. It wasn’t long until it seemed like the statue exploded, the lava-creature Roman had seen on Beck’s holograms emerging with a loud roar. Once again, Roman realised he couldn’t sense this monster, which in turn meant he wouldn’t be able to use his powers on it. Expected, but disappointing nonetheless. However, what he hadn’t expected was that his heat vision did not seem to pick up on the monster itself, but rather a bunch of areas on and around its body. He reasoned that this was just how its powers manifested, much like had been the case with the Water Elemental. It wasn’t made out of fire or lava, but it took the form of something lava-like. 

_“Okay, he’s here!”_ Peter called out over the earpiece. “ _Beck, are you ready? You know what to do.”_

 _“On your lead, Spider-Man,”_ Mysterio’s voice responded calmly as he flew in. 

“I can’t sense him,” Roman announced as he jumped off the building, falling down gently, aided by his telekinesis. 

_“Try to get people to safety.”_ Beck told him as the Fire Elemental jumped forwards, setting a car on fire in the process. _“Save as many people as you can.”_

Creativity nodded. “Will do,” he said as he rushed towards a group of people, helping them get away from the monster. He still focussed on his surroundings to keep an eye on Peter. Mysterio had enabled the stealth mode on his suit, so Roman couldn’t sense him, but he trusted he knew what to do. 

He got the people away from the square as quickly as he could, listening in to Peter and Mysterio’s conversation vaguely, but he didn’t follow completely. He had to focus on the people in front of him. What he did figure out in the process, though, was that there were slight bursts of fire that he _could_ sense. After pointing this out to his teammates, he found out that they had hit the monster with something, causing the minor explosion. That was something he could feel, then. 

When everyone had left and Roman returned to the center of the square to help the other out, he noticed there were still some people around, on the ferris wheel and he cursed softly. 

“Guys, there’s-” He cut himself off when he saw the fire monster punching the wall that Peter stuck himself to and threw his hands up to catch both his friend and the debris falling down. He tried his best to guide the other hero to the ground safely, but he had to cut his rescue attempt short when the Elemental came rushing in his direction. Roman jumped to the side to avoid getting burned alive. 

Just in time, the young hero realised he was standing in front of the carrousel. Something that the monster would love to consume. Or whatever it did. Realising he couldn’t steer it away in time, he raised an arm and willed the suit to create a shield big enough to protect him. He’d seen tech like this take the full strength of an Infinity Stone. This would protect him way better than anything he could ever make himself. 

The blast of the explosion that followed the monster consuming the carrousel, sent him flying across the square, but the worst of it was absorbed by the shield. Peter was thrown into the base of the ferris wheel.

“He’s got the carrousel,” Peter exclaimed as he scrambled to his feet, ”he’s getting bigger.”

“I hate to be the bearer of even worse news,” Roman huffed, pushing himself up as the shield disappeared into his suit again, “but there’s people on the ferris wheel.”

“What?”

“As far as I can tell, there’s seven people,” he answered. He was pretty sure that two of them were Ned and Betty, as their signatures seemed similar, but he wasn’t going to tell Peter that bit. If it was them, Peter would die worrying. If it wasn’t them, he would die worrying for nothing. Either way, they needed to save the people.

Just in time, as if they had heard him, two voices started shouting from somewhere on top of the ferris wheel. Roman was too far away to properly hear, it, but Peter apparently wasn’t, as he looked up to see where the voices came from. The fire monster used the youngest hero’s lack of attention to its advantage and made its way over to Peter. Just as Roman was about to warn him for this, Mysterio flew up and made a shield of his green energy to protect him.

“Alright guys,” Roman called. He walked up slightly as the monster tried to break Beck’s barrier, but it was sure to keep a bit of distance. He couldn’t sense the monster, and he was sure that it would just love to consume his metal suit if it got the chance. “What’s the plan?”

 _“We got to hit it with something it can’t absorb,”_ Peter said in a slight panic as he looked at the monster on the other side of the shield. Roman nodded. Luckily, there was enough of that around. 

_“I go left, you go right,”_ Beck ordered as he turned to Peter. _“Now!”_

He broke the shield as the two of them separated. Roman jumped back, keeping his eyes on the monster, who seemed to be going after Peter. In doing so, it had its back turned to Creativity, who immediately took a hold of a bit of debris lying around to throw at the Elemental. It was now attacking Peter with fire shooting from both of its lava hands as the teen ran up the side of a building to avoid it.

As the debris hit, Spider-Man somersaulted through the air, swinging from a lamp pole to fling another bit of debris at the Elemental.

 _“Okay, shoot him!”_ Peter told Mysterio, who flew in, doing exactly what he was told. The monster roared as the blast hit, temporarily turning part of its body green from the energy it tried to absorb. Was that good? It seemed to affect the monster, so if he had to guess, he’d say it was.

 _“That hurt him_ ,” Quentin observed as the fire beast recovered. Roman had been right on that one, then. _“Keep it coming!”_

Peter flung another piece of debris at the monster, after which Beck hit him with another blast. Roman followed up almost immediately with yet another chunk of debris and again, Beck fired an energy blast at the monster. While this did seem to work, it also seemed to enrage their opponent even more and it swung at the man flying around him, who barely managed to avoid it. 

It would seem that the monster wasn’t making much progress. Not in wreaking havoc, not in absorbing more metal. But they weren’t getting any closer to defeating the Elemental either. So he wasn’t sure this was a good thing... 

_“We can’t let him get to the ferris wheel,”_ Mysterio observed, as if the two teens hadn’t thought about that themselves. Not only was it made out of metal, which the Elemental loved, but there were also people in there. 

_“I’m on it!”_ Just as Peter said this, the monster tried to hit him out of the air. While he managed to avoid the worst of it, he couldn’t avoid being hit into a generator to the side of the festivities.

The Elemental roared loudly and punched a fiery fist on the ground, causing it to shake and crack. Roman felt the cracks appearing with his telekinesis, sensing they were travelling in the direction of the ferris wheel. Just as he had concluded this, an explosion occured near the attraction, and he felt it start to topple over. The teen rushed to catch it with his powers, moving himself closer to get a better grip on it. 

As he looked around, Roman saw the monster coming closer, very clearly intending to get to the ferris wheel. “Guys,” he called out to his teammates. “A little help would be nice.”

Mysterio flew in, blasting the monster’s outstretched hand to keep it at a distance. It was strong enough to push the beast back a bit, but it tried to push back. Nevertheless, Beck never stopped trying. 

Peter also ran up, shooting a web at the ferris wheel to steady it, but seemingly got distracted by something else. Roman didn’t pay attention, as he had to focus on making sure that it didn’t fall over, but he heard his friend’s surprised exclamation, which seemed to imply that he was caught off guard by something. He did sense some small object flying through the air when Peter let go, but he didn’t know what it was. He didn’t recognize it. He didn’t remember sensing it before that, but he also didn’t think it mattered. He had something more important on his mind right now.

Slowly but surely, the wheel started to destabilize a bit more, despite Roman’s best efforts, and the hero knew he couldn’t keep it for much longer. The longer this would go on, the more weight would come to rest on him. And the longer this went on, the harder it would be to carry that weight. “Pete,” he told his friend softly, trying to keep the attraction as stable as he could. “Can you help out a bit?”

“On it,” Peter nodded as he ducked underneath one of the Elemental’s feet and jumped up, using a web to get himself over to a wall so he could web up the ferris wheel and make sure it remained standing. Roman didn’t loosen his grip, just to make sure that it didn’t fall over. He couldn’t have these people die. 

A car entered the scene and as the doors opened, Roman sensed even without looking that it was Fury and Hill. Why the hell would they be here? Sure, they were involved in this mission too but surely, they realised that they could die right? As far as Roman knew, they didn’t have any powers and he doubted that bullets would hurt an entity made out of some sort of fire. Did they not care or were they just that dumb?

Now that Peter could help him take care of the ferris wheel, Roman allowed himself to loosen his focus a little bit and looked back to see how Beck was holding up. He had managed to force the monster back a few steps. The teen just realised that he sensed a metal rack just a few more steps behind the beast. It started to fall over as he fire monster took a final step back. He tried his best to catch it before the Elemental could absorb this. However, with him still trying to keep the ferris wheel steady as well, it was hard to divide his attention, especially with his already strained powers. The rack fell forwards, allowing the fire monster to absorb it with ease, roaring loudly as it grew even bigger.

 _“No, no, no,”_ Roman heard Beck say as he flew back. This was… not good. This was very much not good. _“Whatever happens,”_ Mysterio said as he looked back for a second, his helmet disappearing so he could look at the two younger heroes. “I’m glad we met.”

Roman frowned slightly as his eyes met Beck’s for a second. “Wait what-” 

“What are you doing?” Peter asked at the same time as the other. 

Quentin turned his back to them again as his fishbowl helmet appeared again. _“What I should have done last time.”_ He clenched his fists, seemingly trying to draw more energy from his surroundings. The green energy glowed around his hands as he clenched his fists. Peter still tried to tell Beck not to do it, but it was useless. They didn’t have much choice anyways. The needed to stop this monster before it got out of control. Whatever Beck was gonna try… he probably knew what he as doing.

The hero flew towards the monster, his fists glowing green with energy as he launched himself into what would be the Elemental’s heart — if it had one. The monster stumbled back, its body slowly turning green with Beck’s powers consuming it. It fell to his knees, eventually exploding in a burst of green energy. As the Elemental seemingly disappeared, Roman could have sworn he felt a body falling to the ground. Beck, most likely. But he wasn’t sure if he was… alive.

The ferris wheel seemed to be stable once more as Peter attached a web to the side of it, so Roman made the decision to let go. Immediately, he felt the weight being lifted. It was so much easier now he didn’t have to carry the weight of the attraction. 

The two of them made their way over to Quentin’s body, still unsure whether he was alive or not. Peter was there first — obviously, with his enhanced speed — and carefully nudged the man, trying to see if he was okay. 

When Roman made it over, Beck started to stir, a wave of relief washing over the teen as he noticed this. Thank God. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to deal with another person dying in front of him in an attempt to save the world while he himself was too busy not being good enough to save the world himself. 

“Don’t do that again,” Roman scolded lightly as Peter helped the other up. 

Beck let out a soft laugh, but reached for his side with a grimace. “I can’t promise anything,” he said, his voice strained as he sat down on a piece of debris. “But I can try.”

Roman managed a small smile, looking at the other hero. He opened his mouth to ask him if he was okay, but just that moment, Fury came up to them and Roman promptly shut his mouth as the man turned to Beck. Deciding that he didn’t care much right now, the younger hero turned to his friend. 

“Pete,” he said softly, eyeing his friend closely. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I- I’m good,” he stammered with a nod, clearly still shaken up by this whole situation. “Are you?”

Roman nodded, giving Peter a reassuring look. “I am,” he answered. “Just… dizzy as hell. I think I might have- spent a lot of energy keeping up that ferris wheel. Speaking of which…”

He cut himself off to look at the attraction. It was still standing, that was sure, but the people were still stuck on the ride. Maybe someone should… take a look at that. Roman did his best to keep the ferris wheel standing and even tried to spin the wheel so the people at the top could get out. It took him a lot of energy to pull off, but he couldn’t let them just… sit there.

The next moment, Roman sensed Fury drawing closer behind him and stepped to the side to give him a little bit of space. He glanced at the man as he made contact with Peter.

“You’ve got gifts, Parker,” the man spoke up, “but you didn’t want to be here.”

Roman bit his tongue to stop himself from saying that yeah, no fucking _shit_ . They’d expressed that earlier and yet- they were still here. They had the right to turn down the offer, they had _no_ obligation to be here. Sure, saving the world was a big and important thing, but they had the _right_ to turn this down. And it would have been nice if someone had respected that decision. 

“Mister Fury,” Peter tried, “I-”

“I’d love to have you in Berlin too,” Fury continued, giving the teenager no time to speak once again. “But you got to decide whether you’re going to step up or not. Stark _chose_ you. He made you an Avenger. I need that. The world needs that. Maybe Stark was wrong. Was he? The choice is yours.”

Roman scowled at the man, clenching his fists as he tried not to snap at him once again. He would have snapped right here, right now but his head was spinning and he really felt like he needed to get back to the hotel in an attempt to get some rest and get back that energy he had spent on the fight today. 

But then, Fury turned to him. 

“And Prince-”

“Yeah, don’t mention it,” the teenager muttered softly, already seeing the lecture coming from a mile away. “I know what you’re gonna say and I’m pretty sure the old Captain’s been over all that before. I’m good.”

“You have spirit,” Fury continued, seemingly unaware of Roman’s comment. “And I can use that. But you’re going to have to learn when to control yourself. You have heart, but that’s nothing if you don’t know where to aim your energy.”

Roman nodded. Like he had thought… nothing he hadn’t heard before. It didn’t seem too long ago that none other than Steve Rogers had told him something similar. “Yeah, I know,” he sighed. “Been over that. Did anyone ever tell you that you and Cap are strangely similar? Kind of weird, honestly.”

Fury just gave him a long stare, not saying anything for a long time. “Consider it,” he just said before taking his leave.

Once Fury started to walk away, Beck pushed himself up and made his way over to the two young heroes.

“Let’s get a drink,” he said with an encouraging smile at the two of them. 

As much as he would have liked to take the invite, Roman shook his head. “I appreciate the offer, but… I think I should go,” he responded with the hints of a smile. “My energy levels are… crap.”

“Are you sure?” Quentin tried once more. “It’s on me.”

“I’m sure,” Creativity chuckled with a slight nod. “You guys can go. I think I just spent a little bit too much time and energy on not letting the ferris wheel die.”

Quentin nodded, accepting the answer. “Alright, rest up, kid,” he smiled. “You did well today.” He then turned to Peter with a questioning look. 

In response, Peter glanced at Roman before he met Beck’s eyes. “I…” he paused for a moment. “I’m not twenty-one.”

“Actually, the legal drinking age here is eighteen, which- now I say it… doesn’t change anything for you,” Roman cut in, automatically rambling up the facts that Remus had spilled on their trip here. 

“We can make arrangements,” Mysterio smiled. “Are you in?” 

Peter turned to Roman for a second, anting to make sure that he was completely okay with this. Only when his friend nodded, he looked back at Beck. “Yeah,” he said softly. “That would be nice.”

“Well, that’s my cue to head back,” Roman smiled. “Have fun. But not too much. Not- not in a weird way, just… don’t do anything stupid.”

  
With those words, he made his suit pull back into the small bracelet around his wrist and made his way back to the hotel. Or at least- he made his way back to where he _thought_ the hotel would be. His sense of direction was absolutely horrible. Especially in a dark city he did not know… he wasn’t sure if he would be able to find the place that easily.


	11. CHAPTER TEN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: panic, mentions of lying/manipulation

As it turned out, it did take Roman a little while to get back to the hotel. But, with the help of some friendly people on the street, he finally managed to find his way back. 

When Roman came back to the hotel, he felt slightly better already, but he knew it would take more rest — _actual_ rest — until he got back to his normal levels. That would have to wait, though. First, he wanted to check on his friends, talk to them about what happened. Sleep could come later. 

What he hadn’t expected, though, is his entire class plus teachers gathering in the lobby, chatting among each other although they seemed far from happy. He hadn’t expected them to be back so soon, but it could very well be that the opera was cancelled because of the fight. If it was even noticeable in the opera house. The four hours definitely hadn’t passed yet, so there had to be a reason they were back so soon. Even Ned and Betty had made it back, so at least they were okay. It sucked that Roman hadn’t been able to sneak in unseen, though. He’d hoped that they would still be out so he could go to his room and pretend to have been there all day. That plan was thrown out of the window, though. 

Even his plan to turn around and pretend to not have been here failed, because almost as soon as he stepped in, several people announced his presence, causing the two teachers to turn around. 

“Roman, there you are!” Harrington exclaimed as the teenager walked over to the group with a sheepish smile. “Where were you? Where’s Peter? We couldn’t find you anywhere!”

“Oh, he’s- out,” Roman responded quickly. “We wanted to take a bit of a walk, he said that it might make him feel better. I felt kinda faint, so I left to go back, but he’s still out. He’s okay, though.”

“Are you sure?” the teacher asked worriedly. “Were either of you hurt at all?”

Roman shook his head. “We’re fine,” he assured him. “Really.”

Harrington nodded, keeping an eye on the teen for a moment, but he finally let up. “Alright,” he breathed, “right. Eh- sit down. You’re just in time.”

He gestured in the direction of the group and Roman wasted no time in going over to his friends, giving them a relieved smile. He was so glad to see they were all okay. The others gave him a smile in return, but none of them said anything. There was a mutual understanding among them that they would wait until they could get some alone time to discuss what had happened while they were separated. For now, they would listen to whatever Harrington had to say to them. 

“Okay, if I have all your attention,” Harrington started slowly, clapping his hands together. “I- we have gotten a lot of calls from concerned parents about recent events, and- Mister Dell and I have come to the unfortunate decision to cancel the trip.”

Unsurprisingly, this comment received a lot of mixed reactions. While some of the students understood this — and were maybe even a little relieved to be able to go home after witnessing two monster attacks in two days — a lot of students were less than okay with this. They’d spent money on this trip, and they were _excited_ to go. Yes, the alien attacks were terrifying, but all of them still lived in New York, despite all the shit going on in there. They could handle this situation as well.

Roman honestly couldn’t say that he cared a lot right now. He knew he’d be able to actually respond to this news once he had recovered from the fight a little bit, but right now, he just wanted to lay down on his bed and rest while spending a little time with his friends. He’d find it in himself to respond later. 

The two teachers did their best to calm the group down, and it took a little bit of effort, but eventually, the class did calm down, although they weren’t satisfied. Harrington went on to explain a little more about the situation, saying that it had been a very difficult decision for them to make, of course it was. But right now, it was the only decision they could make. With all the calls and messages they had gotten from parents… there was no way they could allow this trip to continue any longer.

Eventually, the class did accept the explanation, albeit grudgingly. But at least they stopped protesting the decision, and that was good enough for right now.

“Alright, well…” Harrington started as he looked at the group around him. “Go up to your rooms, get some rest, we’ll meet here tomorrow to head back to New York.”

When the group dispersed, Roman walked up to his friends, hugging all of them. He was so damn glad to see the were okay — and vice versa. Remus gave him a minute smile, not breaking off his conversation with Dee. 

Then, Roman and his friends quickly made their way over to Roman’s room, already having made the silent agreement that this was what would happen. No one said it out loud, but Roman wanted to talk about the fight and the others all wanted to hear about what happened. As they stopped in front of the door, Ned hurried up to them, finally having separated himself from Betty for once. 

“Roman,” he called softly, stopping in front of the hero, “where’s Peter? Is he okay?”

The other nodded, giving Ned a reassuring smile. “He’s fine,” he said, “just having a drink with Beck somewhere, I’m sure he’ll be back soon. Don’t worry.”

Ned nodded. “Yeah, okay,” he said slowly. “Thanks. And thanks for… you know-”

“Of course,” Roman smiled at him, leaning against the doorframe a bit. “Why were you guys up there anyways? Thought you were going to the opera?”

“We were…” Ned answered, looking away a bit. “But then MJ left and Betty thought-”

“Wait, MJ left?” Roman interrupted him, immediately thinking back to the fight. He remembered sensing someone vaguely familiar not far from the site, but because he was focussing on keeping the ferris wheel standing, he didn’t think to pay much attention to it. They weren’t in any danger at the time anyways, so he needed to sort out his priorities. That could have been her, then.

“Yeah,” the other confirmed sheepishly. “So Betty wanted to leave as well and I- I couldn’t really stop her, cause she’d already left. So we...”

Creativity nodded, crossing his arms as he listened. “No worries,” he said softly, giving the other a smile. “I’m just glad you guys are okay. That’s the most important thing right now.”

Ned nodded, his mouth forming the slightest smile. “Yeah,” he responded, “well- thank you.” 

Once Ned had left, Roman opened the door to his room, letting his friends in. Once they were all alone, he closed the door to ensure full privacy. Logan sat down on the one chair in the room while Patton and Virgil took up a place on the bed. Roman decided to remain standing. He liked being able to pace around while he discussed things. Especially topics like this, that gave him- things to think of. Pacing seemed to make it earlier to think. If that was the case, Roman wasn’t sure. But he felt like it did. 

As soon as they were all there and had settled in a little bit, Roman started to explain everything that he remembered. His mind was still a mess, struggling to process all the information, especially since he had exhausted his brain so much by using his powers a lot. As a result, his memories were messy as well, but clear enough to remember the big things. The Elemental dying specifically. 

“Are you sure you’re okay, Ro?” Patton asked worriedly, eyeing his friend as he still paced the room.

Roman nodded, running his hands through his hair. “I am,” he confirmed. “I’m good, just- spent a lot of energy. There were still people on the ferris wheel in the square and the Elemental- it tried to attack it, so I had to keep it up. And that… cost a lot of energy. But I’m good. Trust me.”

Obviously, none of his friends trusted him. Roman had a history of not admitting when he was hurt — both physically and mentally. And all of them knew that. But no one had the time to bring this up, because just that moment, a rapid knock sounded on the door, the urgency nearly audible in the knock itself. Roman whipped his head around, staring in the direction of the door as if that would tell him who was on the other side. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to use his ability to sense things through doors or walls, but he wished he could. He wondered if he could train himself to do that… 

“Give me a sec,” he told his friends as he turned on his heels to open the door. He smiled slightly when he saw a relatively stressed out Peter in front of his door. “Pete, what’s up?”

“I- I need to talk to you,” Peter said hurriedly, looking around. His eyes landed on the group of friends in the room and he lifted a hand in greeting, receiving a small chorus of ‘hi’s in return, before he turned back to Roman. “Could you- come with me please? Just you?”

Peter knew Roman well enough that he would be there with his friends, updating them on the situation. He shared everything with their little group, which he respected. He just didn’t want them all in one room together right this moment.

Roman looked back at his friends, who eyed him with a fair mix of worry and curiosity. “I’ll be right back, yeah?” he asked, not waiting for a response before he followed Peter to his room, like he asked. His stress was almost tangible, and Roman couldn’t stop himself from wondering what could possibly be so important. 

They got to Peter’s room, where MJ was sat on the bed, waiting for Peter with the curtains closed. “Oh, hey MJ,” Roman said slowly as he closed the door behind him. He was confused to see her here. Her smile in return told him that she was just as confused to see him. “What- what’s going on?”

“Beck’s a fraud,” the younger hero told him with a sense of urgency, rushing to get the words out before anything else could happen to them. “The Elementals are fake.”

Roman blinked. “I’m sorry?” He needed a moment to think about this information. Beck was a fraud? “How?”

“Illusion tech,” Peter said, “he’s been faking the whole thing.”

“Illusions? But-” Roman abruptly stopped himself as he realised something. God, he was such an idiot. “That’s why I couldn’t sense him, or the Elementals! They weren’t there to begin with. Why didn’t I-” He covered his face with his hands in a moment of frustration. He should have realised this sooner. Or at least questioned it. He should have thought it through at least a little bit. How didn’t he question this before?

MJ looked between the two of them, confused about their exchange. That’s also when Roman realised she was still there to begin with. Did she- was she aware of their predicament? Of the fact that they were… you know… heroes?

“Oh, she knows,” Peter told him, seeing his friend’s expression, “about me. I told her.”

“I figured it out,” she corrected smugly, getting a small smile out of Roman. “So do you-”

“I’m Creativity,” he interrupted, making the split-second decision to trust her with this information. If she knew about Peter… might as well. Even if he didn’t tell her, she was smart enough to work it out by herself, so it was probably for the best to have control over this. Besides… he’d pretty much given himself away already anyways. Might as well spare her the extra confusion.

MJ nodded. “Of course,” she said quickly, seemingly unfazed by this revelation. “Makes sense.”

Roman looked at her for a second, his eyes narrowing as he wondered if she actually thought so, or if she didn’t want to reveal that she hadn’t seen this coming. 

“There’s another thing,” Peter said sheepishly, seeming to avoid Roman’s eyes as he did so. “He has EDITH.”

Roman blinked as he looked at Peter for a second. Trying to figure out if this was the truth or some stupid joke. Even though Roman knew very well that wasn’t Peter’s thing. 

Soon enough, it became clear that it wasn’t a joke though. This was bad news. “He has what?” the hero asked, furrowing his brows. “How?”

“I- I gave it to him,” the younger of the two admitted, before hurriedly adding: “I didn’t know he was bad, though. I thought he- he was good, I…”

“It’s okay,” Roman said softly, putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder. This certainly wasn’t ideal. But it wasn’t the end of the world. There had to be something they could do. “We’ve got this yeah?” Peter took a few moments to think, but finally nodded, getting a small smile out of Roman. “So…” He looked between his two friends, biting his lip slightly. “What’s the plan?

“We have to tell Mister Fury,” Peter said, pulling back to pace around the room. “But Beck probably tapped our phones, so…”

There was a short silence as the teens thought about what to do. Almost at the same time, Roman and Peter seemed to have the same idea, immediately looking at each other. 

“He said he'd go to Berlin,” Roman remembered. 

Peter nodded, grabbing his bag from the chair next to his bed to hurriedly shake out the parts of his suit. “I’ll go to Berlin, talk to Mister Fury in person,” he spoke, paying more attention to his suit. Just as Roman opened his mouth to offer to join him, Peter looked up, as if he knew what would come. “You need to stay here. In case Beck tries anything.”

“But what about you?” Roman asked. He agreed that someone had to keep an eye on their class. Especially since MJ knew about- the fact that Beck was fake. If he would somehow find out, things could end quite badly. But he still wasn’t too happy about Peter going off to Berlin all by himself. He was in danger too, after all. 

“I’ll be fine,” Spider-Man assured him as he quickly took off his shirt, stopping in his track as he realised that he wasn’t alone, even though he was too sweet to actually say anything about it. Roman turned his head away anyways to give Peter just a little bit of privacy.

Just when Peter had put on his suit, the door opened. Roman sensed the doorknob twisting and he was about to warn his friend, but as soon as the door opened, he was able to sense that it was Ned in front of the door. He knew about Spider-Man. He was trustworthy, so it was okay. 

Ned stood in the doorway with wide eyes, taking in the scene before him in mostly confusion and a slight panic.

“Oh, Ned, perfect!” Peter said, barely even taking the time to blink as he turned around.

There was a pause. “The costume looks great!” Ned exclaimed, quickly trying to save himself as he looked over to MJ, unaware that she knew about Peter being Spider-Man. “For the costume party… at the prince’s castle.”

“She knows,” Roman informed him with a small smile, causing Ned to look at the two others, still confused.

Peter nodded, confirming this statement. “Yeah, I told her.”

“He didn’t tell me,” MJ corrected once more, causing Roman to look at her with a slight smile. At times like these, she really reminded him of Logan. “I figured it out.”

Ned remained silent for a while, taking this in. “Oh,” he said slowly. “That’s cool.”

“Like… a long time ago,” MJ added.

“Oh.”

“Look,” Peter interrupted, deciding that there were more important things to discuss right now than this. “Mysterio is a fraud.”

“What?” Ned questioned. “But he saved me and Betty’s lives.”

Roman scoffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “I think it’s better to say that he endangered your lives.”

“He’s been faking the thing with illusion tech,” MJ elaborated.

“Yeah,” Peter said. “He’s using these, like, hologram projectors.”

“Woah, that’s crazy,” Ned stammered, struggling to understand this whole situation. Roman understood. It was- insane. He couldn’t believe that someone would do something like this. And he couldn’t believe that he simply _trusted_ Beck like that.

“Pretty sure _he_ is,” he muttered, causing a slight nod from MJ — he didn’t see it, since he was looking at Ned, but he sure as hell sensed it. 

“So, you guys were working the case together or what?” Ned looked between the three of them, still trying to get a picture of the whole situation.

Creativity shook his head, holding up his hands. “Not me, I just heard about this myself.”

“It’s been mostly me,” MJ added on.

“Look, Ned, I need you to call May,” Peter said, taking a few steps closer to his friend as he did this. “Get her to call Mister Harrington and say that she wanted me to stay with family in Berlin until this things blows over, okay?”

Ned nodded. “Got it. Easy.”

“Wow, you guys lie with such ease,” MJ stated looking at her two friends. 

“I mean, it’s pretty much the standard for superhero business at this point,” Roman told her finally looking back at her for a second. “No one likes it, but… it’s kind of necessary if you don’t want to reveal your identity to everyone you meet.” 

A brief silence fell, but it was quickly interrupted by Peter.

“I gotta go,” he said, already making his way over to the window; he was clearly in a rush to get to Berlin as fast as he could.

“Eh- wait, wait, the projector!” MJ’s voice stopped him in his tracks as she rushed over to the bag and got out something. Immediately, Roman recognized its odd shape as the unknown object that had flown through the air during their battle in the city centre. When did he find that? “You’re gonna need this.”

She tossed the projector over to Peter, who caught it without a second glance. “Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?” he stressed — in vain, because Roman knew he couldn’t get away with not telling the others, whether he wanted to or not. “Anyone who knows is in danger.”

He then opened the window and jumped out, immediately shooting a web at a building on the other side of the road. 

“So, you know too,” Ned said to MJ as Peter left. “Cool. I’ve known first and I’ve known longer, but… it’s not a competition, so…”

There was a brief silence, and Roman decided that he had to get back to his friends as quickly as possible. He knew Peter had told him not to tell anyone, but he was already intent on breaking that. His friends were probably already aware that something was up, so he doubted he would be able to keep this from them.

“I gotta talk to my friends,” he said as he made his way to the door. “Be careful, and let me know if anything weird happens, just in case. I doubt that Beck will try anything, but…”

“Are you going to tell them?” Ned asked, frowning slightly. “But don’t-”

“They’re already in danger being around me,” Roman interrupted, resting his hand on the doorknob. “Besides, they’re literally in my room as we speak. I don’t think I can hide anything from them. And they deserve to know, we don’t know if Beck is going to try anything. And if he is… they’re targets. I can’t not tell them.”

If Beck was going to target anyone out of them, it was probably Roman himself, since he could potentially be a threat. The others were teenagers, what were they going to do? Cancel Mysterio via a TikTok campaign? Actually-

“Okay,” Ned said with a slight nod, clearly still think about the situation. 

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Roman continued as he opened the door to the hallway. “Stay safe.”


	12. CHAPTER ELEVEN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Panic, stress, Roman being a dumbass, mention/thought of (possibly) dying

When he left the room, Roman instantly went for Remus’ room. He knew that Peter had said not to tell anyone, but he also knew that there was no way he couldn’t tell the others about beck. He couldn’t let them believe that this man was a hero when he was a lying, untrustworthy piece of shit. Besides, he shared everything with them. They were his team; without them, he wouldn’t be the hero he was today. It was only fair if they told them. 

Roman knocked on his twin’s door. When the door swung open, Remus appeared in frame, leaning against the doorpost with his trademark smirk, ready to make a dumb remark. However, as soon as he laid eyes on the other, Remus saw that something was up. It was subtle, but the look in Roman’s eyes, the way he played with the hem of his shirt like he always did when he was nervous, the way he slightly tried to avoid his brother’s eyes, but kept looking up at him anyways. They were all signs that something had gone wrong. And by wrong I mean  _ wrong.  _ End of the world kind of wrong. “I jumped onto a spaceship to fight a psycho alien and now our entire family is dead” kind of wrong. Really,  _ really  _ wrong. 

“Oh God,” Remus murmured under his breath. His arm dropped to his side as he scrutinized Roman. His eyebrows shot up slightly and his mouth formed just the slightest scowl, more in an “I knew this was coming” manner rather than angry or upset. “Who fucked up this time?”

Roman shook his head, not wanting to discuss this topic right here, in the middle of the hallway where literally everyone could overhear them. “Not here. Let’s go to my room, yeah?”

“Sure,” the younger twin muttered as he stepped outside. “Not like I have a choice anyways. Should Dee come too?”

“Yeah,” Roman responded without a moment of hesitation. This was important enough that they should all know about this. “Yeah, let’s.”

Immediately, Remus looked back into his room. “You heard the guy, Dee,” he called - because  _ of course _ the two of them would be hanging out. “Last minute debriefing in Roman’s room.”

“I’m not deaf, Remus, no need to yell,” the other deadpanned as he joined the twins. “Well? Shall we, then?”

Roman nodded and led the others back to his room, where his friends would still be waiting for him. 

The three of them stepped into the room. The slight conversation that had filled the air prior to their arrival died away as the three others turned their heads to look at the newcomers. Before they could even ask questions about where Roman had gone, why Remus and Janus were here all of a sudden, what happened, the hero already opened his mouth.

“Bad news from the zones, tumbleweeds,” he announced as he closed the door behind him. There was a slight cheer to his voice, but the fact that his body language did not mirror this emotion was a huge giveaway to the fact that something was going on. “As it turns out, our boy Quentin Beck is a huge Quentin Dick.”

The silence in the room remained. Except where it used to be comfortable and curious it was now confused and tense. Roman walked closer to his friends, pacing the room slightly as five pairs of eyes followed him.

“What?” Patton asked, tilting his head slightly as he looked at the back of his friend. “What do you mean? What-”

“Mysterio is fake,” Creativity interrupted, spinning around suddenly. “The Elementals are fake. His origin story is fake.  _ Everything  _ is fake, it’s just illusions and tricks. All of it. Peter and MJ figured it out.”

“What? But how-” 

“Illusion tech,” Roman explained. “ _ Really _ advanced illusion tech. Projectors. Probably mounted on drones or- or something else.” He started pacing again. He still couldn’t believe that he didn’t catch on earlier. And he still didn’t understand how he couldn’t sense the drones. Beck must have figured something out to block his powers. I mean, if he could create tech that created monsters that were  _ so  _ realistic, who knows what else he could think of? 

“So he’s just been pretending to be a hero?” Virgil asked. Roman confirmed this with a nod and ran his hands through his hair. “Why? What would he get out of it?”

“I don’t-”

“Recognition?” Remus suggested. “People will see him as a hero if he defeats those monsters. They’ll love him. It’s an easy way to gain influence or respect from the entire world.” 

Roman gave his brother a look. “I mean… maybe,” he sighed, falling back onto his bed. “I just- I don’t understand  _ why _ . Who would endanger innocent civilians just to get his fifteen minutes of fame? And all the property damage…”

The others hummed in agreement and remained silent, as they tried to think about what could have been a motive for Beck to… commit an act like that. Why would he willingly cause so much destruction? There had to be  _ some  _ motivation behind this, right? Surely, his goal wouldn’t be to wreak havoc for the sake of wreaking havoc?

Something didn’t add up. There had to be  _ something _ . Roman refused to believe that there was no ulterior motive. Sure, he had met some messed up people — or aliens — and it was clear that Quentin Beck wasn’t a good man either. After all, he  _ did  _ set up this entire act. He pretended to be a hero from another dimension, endangered dozens of people. All for his own gain. That wasn’t something a good person would do. But he didn’t believe that it was all just for fun. There had to be something hidden behind- wait. 

The silence was broken by Roman as he gasped. “What if it’s because of us?” he wondered, his eyes wide as he realised something. “Me and Pete, I mean.”

Janus crossed his arms as he leaned a shoulder against the wall. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” The hero pushed himself up to look at the other. “It can’t be a coincidence, right? We know that the Elementals are fake, so… the Water Elemental showing up in Venice, the  _ only  _ day we’re there?” Roman shook his head decidedly. “I can’t believe that’s just a coincidence. Out of all the places they could’ve chosen…”

“A coincidence does seem unlikely,” Logan said; the first thing he’d said in a while. “Do you know what he could want? Any possible motives?”

“Not that I can think of,” Roman said after a moment of consideration, rubbing his face slightly. Everyone was quiet for a while as they tried to think. was there anything that he could have wanted. Roman, hit his hands down on the mattress in an act of frustration and helplessness. There had to be something, right? 

“So what do we do?” Virgil asked after a few moments of silence. Roman noticed how he used ‘we’ and somehow, that simple word made his heart leap a little. At least, despite everything, he still had the others. The fact that they were so willing to help him out with this made his stomach ache in the best way. He loved his friends. 

“Nothing for now,” Creativity said with a shake of his head. “Fury and Hill will be going to Berlin to work out some things with Europol. Peter’s on his way there now. Unless something else happens, we’re going home. I’m staying with you guys, to make sure everything is okay. If Beck tries anything… I’ll be here. We have no idea what he wants and what he knows. So you’re gonna have to be careful. Don’t mention this to anyone. Ned and MJ know about this, so they’re good, but no one else does. Be careful.” He gave every single one of his friends a serious look, wanting to be sure that every single one of them knew the gravity of this situation. If anyone got hurt because of this- Roman would never forgive himself. “And don’t text about it in any way. Don’t mention anything to anyone. Beck has EDITH, so if he wants to, he has access to… literally everything. We can’t have him finding out what we know.”

“Wait, back up,” Janus said as he held up a hand. “What was that? He has  _ EDITH _ ?”

Roman ran his hands through his hair with a sigh — a nervous habit of his; it was one of the small things that showed just how stressed he was. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Peter gave it to him. It’s not- he didn’t know everything back then, or…  _ anything  _ to begin with. So… yeah, Beck has EDITH. That sucks.” He folded his hands together and leaned his elbows on his knees, so he could place his chin on top of his intertwined fingers as he looked up at his friend. “So... be careful not to text or search anything suspicious, I suppose. He could see it.”

He scoffed. It was ridiculous that they had to be so careful with everything. But it was the only way. They didn’t know what he wanted or what he was capable of, but it was clear that he wasn’t afraid of endangering people. They had to assume that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them if he found out they knew about his lies, because letting down their guard was dangerous. 

“What if that’s it?” Logan suggested suddenly. “What if he wanted to lay his hands on EDITH?”

“How would he know about it, though? And why?”

Logan hesitated for a second before he shook his head. “I am not quite sure myself,” he admitted, adjusting his glasses. “But it would not be unlikely. As you said, it would be too coincidental if he hadn’t planned ahead. There has to be some sort of motive.”

Remus hummed in agreement. “I mean, an army of killer drones at your command? The ability to see what people text and search? I wouldn’t mind having access to that to help with my evil plan.” Roman turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “What? It’s only hypothetically. All I’m saying is, the Little Einstein over there might have a point.”

“I suppose.” Roman got up again, walking past his friends to the window so he could look at the dark city outside. He hoped Peter would be able to get to Fury in time. And he hoped he would be able to get to him before Beck did. He really wished he had joined Peter to Berlin, but he also knew that his friends needed him to protect him. And they needed him more. This was the best solution, he knew that. It just didn’t feel like that. 

Virgil eyed his boyfriend’s back, knowing him well enough to know that he was worrying and stressing out over this situation. He needed rest. All of them. “Would it be better if we left?” he suggested softly, getting up to walk towards his partner. “To get ready for tomorrow? Get some rest?”

Roman shrugged. He looked at his boyfriend as he stopped next to him, but turned his eyes to the streets below them. “I don’t know,” he admitted shakily. “Part of me thinks it would be better, but… I can’t help but worry.” He took a deep breath. “Beck will probably be heading to Berlin with Fury and Hill, so I think you’ll be fine, but…”

“It’s okay.” Virgil simply looked at his boyfriend, standing next to him. “We’re gonna be fine, Ro.”

“I know you are,” the hero breathed, locking eyes with the other for a second, before looking away again. “I’m just…”

_ Scared _ . That’s what he wanted to say, but somehow, he couldn’t get himself to say that word. However simple it was, it seemed to get stuck in his throat the moment he tried to utter it. No matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t… come out. 

Luckily, they didn’t have to. The others understood what he meant just by his silence. They knew. 

“It’s alright,” Virgil repeated. “You need rest. We all do. And if anything does happen… we’ll take care of it, right?”

Roman managed a small smile as he looked at his boyfriend, taking a moment to let it sink in how much he really loved Virgil. “We will,” he nodded before he leaned in to kiss his partner softly. “Thank you.”

This didn’t change everything. He was still terrified that something would happen to his friends while he wasn’t looking. Nothing about this situation was good. But Virgil was right; he needed to get some sleep. He couldn’t protect his friends on no sleep. 

“You should go,” Roman said softly as he turned to his friends. “If anything weird happens, let me know.”

His group of friends spoke out their agreements as they got up, getting ready to leave. The next couple of minutes were filled with hugs and goodbyes, the others reassuring Roman that they would be fine. Patton and Janus were the first to leave, followed by Logan. Virgil left not much later, but not before kissing his boyfriend softly and once more telling him that he would be just fine. And then, it was just the two twins. 

“So…” Remus started as the door closed behind Virgil. His voice was surprisingly gentle and he looked at his brother with a gaze that was equally soft. “How are you holding up?”

“Fine,” Roman muttered, running a hand through his hair yet again. His eyes didn’t meet Remus’ as he did so. “You should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s gonna be… long.”

“Oh no, you don’t get to change the subject on me, Prince Charmless.” Remus walked closer to his slightly older sibling, trying to make eye contact. “How are you holding up? And tell me the truth this time.”

“I told you, I’m-”

“I know you’re not, Ro,” the other interrupted. There was a hint of annoyance in his voice, but it was clear it was fueled only by concern. “I was just asking to be nice. I know you and there’s no way you’re fine.”

Roman hated how he was right. He _wasn’t_ okay, but he didn’t want to put the burden of his emotions on the shoulders of his friends. Not after the bombshell he had dropped earlier. He could deal with his emotions himself, but-

“Oh, come here you dumbass,” Remus murmured as he closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around his brother, one hand coming up to the back of Roman’s head. 

He didn’t even realise that he started tearing up until felt something wet rolling down his cheek. He let out a soft sound that sounded like a mix between a choked sob and a gasp as he wrapped his arms around Remus, holding on to the back of his shirt. He just… felt so dumb that he fell for Beck’s tricks like that. He understood that there was no way that he could have known, since even Nick Fury seemed to believe the man. But that didn’t make him feel any better. 

And on top of all that, came the added stress of feeling the need to protect some of the most important people in his life. He couldn’t let anything happen to them. He never could allow that and after Thanos, he realised even more than ever how important all these people were to him. If anything happened to them… 

The twins stood in silence for a little while, Remus quietly comforting his brother. It wasn’t often that the two of them were silent like this, but it was more than obvious that Roman needed this. He was working himself up more than he would like to admit, even to himself. Something that starting to grow more and more common lately. As his twin, Remus knew Roman better than anyone else, and he knew exactly when he was doing this.

“We’re gonna be fine, Pollux,” Remus said softly, “Peter’s gonna be fine. Just like Fast and Worry-ous said. Don’t worry that tiny little head of yours.”

Despite himself, Roman scoffed. “Shut up,” he said softly, wiping away the stray tears rolling down his cheeks. He pulled away from the hug just a bit. “I’m not sure I ever… could not worry.”

“I know, I know,” the younger twin muttered. He knew his brother too well to ever think, even for a second, that he would not worry about their wellbeing. “I do hope you know that if Beck tries anything, I’ll break his pretty little face.”

Despite the fact that his tone was joking, Remus wasn’t completely kidding. It was clear to him that Roman had really grown to like Beck in the few days that he’d known him — he was always quick to trust and like people. So this stunt Beck had pulled  _ really  _ hurt Roman, and no one was allowed to hurt Roman except for Remus himself. So if the man himself ever dared show his apparently-handsome face, Remus would make sure that he would let him know not to mess with his brother and their baby friend ever again. 

“I don’t doubt that,” Roman smiled softly. “I appreciate it.”

“Hey, someone needs to look out for your dumb ass,” the other grinned, very gently punching Roman’s shoulder. “And... I’m sorry your teammate turned out to be a dick.”

Roman let out a soft laugh, looking down to avoid his brother’s gaze. “Yeah,” he sighed. “So am I. Thanks, though.”

“Look, get some sleep — and I mean  _ sleep _ , don’t stay up all night you idiot — and try to get ready for the flight tomorrow, yeah?” Remus gave Roman a stern stare, knowing that he tended to avoid sleep. Especially if he was stressed out. It was a dumb habit, but he kept doing it. “You need to be rested tomorrow. Just in case.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” the hero whispered, running a hand through his hair. 

“And stop doing that.” Remus raised his eyebrows at Roman as he gently swatted his hand away. He needed to stop acting like they were all going to die. They weren’t, surely. Sure, this situation sucked at best but Roman was acting like this was the end of the world when they still had time to fix it. It wasn’t a death sentence. 

“Sorry,” Roman muttered as he dropped his hand to his side. “You’re right. I should sleep. You too.”

“Yeah, no shit,” the younger twin grinned. “You’re gonna be okay, right?”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Well… I’ll take it.”

Roman smiled, giving his brother another hug. “Thank you,” he whispered softly. “I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I love you too and all that,” Remus nodded teasingly as he took a few small steps in the direction of the door. “I’ll see you in the morning. If we’re not dead by then.”

Roman snorted and flipped his brother off as he fell down on the bed. “See you tomorrow, douche.” 

The night was restless. Roman did sleep, but… not well. He woke up often and had those weird kind of dreams where you feel like you’re just going in circles and it feels like it just goes on forever and ever, so when you wake up, you feel like you’ve slept through the entire night and then you check the time and it turns out you haven’t even been out cold for an hour so you need to go back to sleep and then the exact same thing happens and that keeps going on for most of the night. 

So it was easy to say that he didn’t feel too well rested when it was time to get up for real. But nonetheless, he managed to drag himself out of bed — more since he knew that Remus would be at his door if he didn’t get his ass in gear. He threw his final items into his suitcase, not bothering about being neat and tidy, and joined his friends for a quick breakfast before they’d need to get ready to go back home. 

After breakfast, the entire group had gathered in the lobby, waiting to go back to the airport so they could fly back to New York. Almost everyone was present; they just needed to wait for Harrington to arrive and they’d be good to go. There was the soft murmur of conversations amongst the students as they waited for their teacher. The conversations were mostly about how disappointed everyone was about the sudden cancellation of their trip. Even though they did understand why, it still sucked. Everyone had been looking forwards to this trip and now it was over in just a few days. But they realised that it was probably for the best, with all the Elementals popping up everywhere. Some students even brought up the theory that their school might be cursed. After students from their school getting caught up in a disaster in DC a few years back and now this? Yeah, Midtown was  _ definitely  _ cursed. 

“Good news everyone!” Harrington called out loudly as he came back to the lobby. “We’re going to London!”

There was a small chorus of “what” going all around as the group was met with the umpteenth surprise of their trip. Roman just looked up at his teacher with wide eyes, trying to figure out if he actually heard this right. 

“Yeah,” Harrington nodded. “The-”

“- touring company called?” Roman finished, his hands clenching into fists as he awaited an answer. God, he hoped this was a mistake. This didn’t feel right. None of this felt right. “I thought we were going home?”

“Well- yeah,” the man said with a slight stammer. “Exactly. There… was no direct flight to New York, so we’re going to London. We’ll have a few hours there before we need to go back.”

When he said this, Roman felt a slight twinge in his stomach, as if he was going to be sick. This couldn’t be good. The first time ‘the touring company called’, it was Fury making sure he and Peter would be in Prague to fight the Elemental. The second time, it was Peter finding an excuse to keep the rest of their class away from the fight that would happen in the city. The third time… As far as Fury knew, the Elementals were dead and they were done fighting. He wouldn’t have a reason to send them to London. Neither did Peter — he didn’t even have the means to do so. Unless- 

Maybe Peter got to Fury. Maybe this was a plan to gather the heroes in the same place once more so they could find a way to get rid of Beck. Or maybe… this was a plan from Mysterio himself. Part of Roman feared for the worst, and as he made eye contact with Virgil, he knew his boyfriend felt the same way. He needed to be cautious. 

Dimitri was still there to drive them to the airport. It was only a thirty minute drive to get there and Roman and his friends had once again gathered in the back of the bus, on Roman’s insistence. 

“I don’t trust this,” he muttered as he leaned against the window. “This is shadier than Shadow the Hedgehog.”

“I agree,” Virgil said, ignoring the reference. “You sure it couldn’t have been Peter?”

Roman scoffed. “With what money?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “He doesn’t have EDITH anymore, I don’t think he  _ could _ .”

“Fury?”

“I can’t imagine why,” the hero shrugged. “He should be in Berlin right now, not in fucking London. If he needed me, he could just as well have sent us to Berlin. It’s easier, cheaper and better for the environment.”

The group remained silent for a while as they seemed to overthink this. None of them wanted to say anything or make any assumptions, too scared that they would be wrong and make this out to be so much more than it actually was. And even more terrified of being  _ right _ . But they really didn’t know who else could be behind this other than Mysterio himself. 

“So… what do we do?” Patton asked carefully, looking at his friends. 

“I don’t even know,” Roman said with a shake of his head. He rubbed his face with his hands as he tried to think. He felt so powerless right now. They were walking right into a trap, he  _ knew  _ this and there was still nothing he could do about this. It was all out of his hands now. The best he could do was find out what Beck’s plan was and to protect his friends. “He’s gonna kill us. I just know he is. We need to be careful. Just… keep an eye out for anything weird, yeah?”

The others nodded and murmured agreements. No one had a better plan. After all, what could you do against a man who didn’t only possess dozens of drones with highly advanced illusion tech, but also  _ Tony fucking Stark’s defense satellites _ ? Not to mention killer fucking drones? There wasn’t much for them to do other than wait for him to reveal his game. Then, they could act on it. 

Soon enough, the bus stopped at the airport and the teens got out to grab their bags and go to the plane that would take them to London. As soon as they were outside, Roman rushed to get to MJ, wanting to talk to her as well. And Ned, of course, but for the moment, he was too wrapped up in telling Betty how much he loved her. So Roman decided he’d just keep and eye on them and make sure to talk to Ned when he could get him alone. 

“MJ,” he breathed as he managed to catch up with the girl. “Great, I- I need to talk to you.”

MJ stopped in her tracks to look at Roman, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly. “Does this have anything to do with why you guys were being so secretive on the bus?”

“What?” Roman asked, caught slightly off guard. “I mean- yeah, I suppose.” He shook his head, telling himself to  _ focus _ . “Look, I don’t trust this. Any of this.” He made a vague gesture around them. 

“What do you mean?” MJ asked him as the rest of their class slowly started moving in the direction of the terminal. 

“This… situation,” the hero struggled to explain. “The last times the ‘touring company called with an upgrade’, it was Fury and Peter. And I don’t think they’re behind it this time.”

“You think it’s Mysterio?” The two of them followed the group as they spoke. Virgil had gotten Roman’s bags while he talked to MJ so there was no need to worry about that. “Why? You think he knows?”

“It’s the only person I can think of who could do something like this,” he shrugged. “I truly don’t know. He might. At some point, he must have figured out one of the projectors went missing, so maybe he did figure it out somehow. Maybe he didn’t. I don’t even know if he’s gonna target you guys. Maybe it’s just me who he’s after. Maybe he wanted to take me out anyways because… I don’t know, I could be a threat? Maybe I’m just being paranoid. I honestly don’t know. But I’d rather be paranoid than get someone killed because I brushed it off as nothing. So just… be careful. Keep an eye out for anything out of place. And stay a little close to me, maybe, so I can jump in if anything bad happens, okay?”

MJ nodded. “Of course.” She gave Roman her best reassuring smile. 

“Thanks,” he smiled in return, looking back to the group. “Now just to get the news to Ned. If I can ever tear him away from Betty. I swear, they’re more like Nednbetty at this point.”

MJ looked at Roman, narrowing her eyes slightly in suspicion. “Did you just make a Lord of the Flies reference?”

“I did,” he nodded, not at all surprised that she would catch that reference. “Not the best joke ever, but…”

“I didn’t think you’d be interested in that,” she commented. 

“Oh, I’m not,” Roman said with a sharp shake of his head. “Remus forced me to read it.”

This comment elicited a small scoff from MJ. “That makes more sense.”

Roman chuckled as the two of them caught up with the rest of their class, making some conversation with each other and the rest of Roman’s group of friends. Roman found it difficult to relax, despite his best efforts, and kept getting distracted as he used his powers to get an idea of their surroundings. Even though he knew that logically, they wouldn’t be in danger until they made it to London. After all, why all the hassle to get them to London if they were just going to die in Prague? It didn’t make sense. And yet, he was still paranoid. And the others noticed. 

“Ro, you okay?” Virgil asked after they’d been through customs and trying to find their way to their gate. 

“Yeah, you look as wound up as someone who had just a little too much viagra,” Remus commented with a raised eyebrow. “If you know what I mean.”

Roman ran a hand through his hair — something that gained him a disapproving look from Remus, who had told him on multiple occasions to stop doing that when he was stressed. “I’m good, I’m good,” he muttered, tightening his grip on his bags. “Just… I can’t stop thinking about what Beck is planning. There’s got to be something, and I’m-”

“In other words: you’re not fine,” Remus interrupted. “Look, we’re gonna be okay. At least for now. Once we get to London, though, we’re fucked.” He flashed a teasing grin to his twin, bumping their shoulders together slightly. “There’s no need to worry, I told you. If dear old Sandy Cheeks shows face, I will gladly punch him, you know this.”

“I appreciate you, Remus, but you forget that he’s got access to all of Tony’s security and defense systems. And those include weaponized drones, so unless you’ve got some sort of bulletproof skin thing that I don’t know about, that won’t help much.”

“I’ll just punch all of those as well,” Remus shrugged. 

Despite himself, Roman chuckled at his, nudging his twin. “Whatever you say,” he mumbled with a slight grin. 

After that conversation, Roman did manage to relax a little bit. Even if he was still scared for what they’d be faced with in London… he had about three hours to worry about that before it actually came to that. 

Once the group made it to the gate, they still had to wait about an hour until they could board. An hour of just sitting and doing nothing at all was the last thing Roman needed in a situation like this, but luckily his friends were there to distract him, knowing exactly how he had a tendency to overthink things like this. Even MJ stayed around, with the excuse that she didn’t really have any business with Nednbetty, although Roman was fairly sure she stayed around because she  _ wanted  _ to. Either way, she spent a long time talking to Remus about some obscure book the both of them had read. Roman didn’t even try to follow their conversation, but he figured it was unreasonably dark. 

At some point in those hours, Roman even managed to grab Ned’s attention long enough to tell him about the current situation without Betty around to overhear. He understood and promised Roman he’d be careful. Betty didn’t know anything about the Mysterio deal, and they’d agreed that this was for the best. 

  
Eventually, the class could finally get on the airplane. As expected, Roman’s little group made sure they could sit near each other, occupying three whole rows with all of them, Ned and Betty included. He knew it wasn’t necessary to have everyone here right  _ no _ w, since there wasn’t a direct threat at the moment, but Roman still liked the fact that everyone was nearby, where he could know that they were safe. Even if it wasn’t likely that something would happen right here, Roman was scared to make a wrong call. He wanted to be sure, he  _ had  _ to be sure. 


	13. CHAPTER TWELVE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: injuries, mind games, attempted murder, (fake) gore and character death

After a little less than two hours, the plane landed at the London City Airport. As they got out of the plane to grab all their luggage, Roman felt a slight twinge in his stomach. This is where things might actually get dangerous. They were here now. Ready to face their imminent death. Only hypothetically, of course. Roman would protect them all. Obviously. 

“Okay, the company set up a city tour,” Harrington explained as he led the students towards the exit. “And then we’ll grab a bite and head back to catch our plane.”

“Is no one else gonna acknowledge how crazy this is?” Brad suddenly asked, realising Roman’s fear of someone asking that exact question. He didn’t know why; it wasn’t as if Brad asked  _ him _ . He just… didn’t like the question. Because this situation  _ was _ crazy. Even to him, while he was in on all this. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how weird this had to be for someone who knew nothing about the whole situation.

“Yeah, I get it,” Dell agreed as he came up behind him. “There’s been nothing scientific about this science tour at all.”

“No, no, no,” Brad was quick to jump in. “I’m talking about Peter.”  _ Oh.  _ That was even worse. “Had no one else noticed how shady he is? Because I saw him in the back room of a rest stop with some woman in his underwear. And he’s always sneaking away, like back at the opera, huh?” His eyes landed on Roman as he said that, as if he was waiting for the other to say something. Obviously, he had noticed that, if Peter snuck off, it was always with Roman. But before the older teen could even start to think about responding, Brad continued. “And now, what? He’s suddenly off the trip, with his family in Berlin? Is no one else here interested in the truth?” 

Roman opened his mouth, ready to defend Peter to the best of his abilities, but MJ spoke up before he could. 

“The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world.”

“George Orwell,” Remus and Brad said in unison, Remus giving MJ a grin before he turned to Brad. He was curious to see this play out. 

“Thank you, MJ,” Brad continued, seeming to think that MJ was on his side on this.

“Yeah,” she simply responded. “Well, I mean- since Peter’s not really here to tell his truth, what about you, Brad? Why do you think it’s cool to take pictures of people in the bathroom?”

“Yeah, that’s just messed up,” Remus added. 

“And that’s coming from  _ Remus _ ,” Roman finished, chuckling as his twin nudged him roughly with his elbow. 

“No, no, no, it wasn’t like that, it was-”

“You literally just said you took a picture of him,” Roman said, raising his eyebrow slightly. “How can it  _ not  _ be that?”

“I-” Brad was clearly struggling here, trying to save face. “I was trying to take-”

“Let’s put all this craziness behind us,” Harrington interrupted, clearly not wanting to have a discussion like this — especially not in the middle of an airport where everyone could hear them, “and have a nice, peaceful afternoon. ‘Sounds great, Mister Harrington,’ said the class. Okay.” 

He started to make his way to the exit, the rest of the class following him while Dell and Brad lingered for a moment. As they walked, Roman turned to MJ with a smile that she quickly returned. He was just glad to get away with that discussion without anyone else starting to ask weird questions, because he figured that, if anyone had sided with Brad, it wouldn’t have been so easy to get out of. 

The group walked outside. Once again, Roman needed a moment to get used to the large outside, even though it wasn’t as big a difference after walking through the crowded airport. The outside was obviously way bigger than the inside of the airport, no matter how busy it was inside. 

As Harrington had told them, there would be a tour through London, on one of those typical double-decker buses that everyone knew England for, followed by a little bit of free time before they had to go back to the airport. More than enough time to be shot through the head. Even though Roman knew he shouldn’t be thinking like that. Maybe he was overreacting and his worry would spoil a perfectly fine trip. Even though he doubted this. 

The bus was waiting for them outside the airport, the bus driver waiting for them next to the vehicle holding a sign that said ‘Midtown High’. He smiled at them as they approached and told them to go to the top deck for optimal view. Roman really didn’t like the sound of that, but… again, things were completely out of his hands now. 

They stored their luggage away and went to the top deck of the bus. Along with the rest of his friends, Roman took up a place near the back. Which seemed to be becoming a trend with them. It was just a comfortable place to discuss secret things that no one could hear about. The bus took off and everyone started talking to each other as they looked at the city around them. 

However, they didn’t get very far. It had only been fifteen minutes when the bus stopped on the middle of the Tower Bridge, due to the traffic all around them. Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance and while thunder in itself wasn’t a bad thing… Roman definitely didn’t trust it. 

A loud clap of thunder sounded and Roman saw that the lighting allegedly hit a building not far away, as clouds looking more like smoke swirling around it. But Roman didn’t buy it. And he knew that he wasn’t alone. He sensed Ned and MJ standing at the back of the bus, looking at the scene around them, and he turned to his boyfriend. 

“I’ll be right back,” he said softly as he got up. “Stay safe.”

He carefully made his way over to the two younger to check on them.

“Hey guys,” he breathed casually as he took up his place next to them. “So… how are you holding up over here?” 

He made sure to look around him, just in case anything happened that he couldn’t sense. He needed to be alert. 

“I don’t trust this,” MJ responded, “he’s planning something, isn’t he?”

“I’m afraid so,” Roman said with a nod. There was no way around it. This entire situation was shady as hell. “We really need to be-” 

The teen cut himself off when he sensed something flying closer, tensing up slightly. Multiple objects, four of them. Drones, by the feel of it. They circled around the bus while keeping a safe distance. 

His eyes flicked back and forth trying to find the objects but unable to see anything, despite sensing them very clearly.

"Shit," Roman hissed as he realised what this meant. He turned to the two next to him, keeping his voice low. "I'm sensing something. Drones, I'm guessing. At least four of them, they're circling the bus."

Both MJ and Ned whipped around to look at him. 

"What?" Ned asked, the panic in his voice almost betraying their conversation to the rest of the class. 

"Do you think…"

MJ didn't finish her question, but Roman nodded, understanding her nonetheless. "Probably," he said looking over to his friends, not far away. There was a drone a few feet from them. One wrong move…

"What do we do?" Ned questioned, pulling Roman's attention back. 

"Nothing yet," the hero said with a shake of his head, causing confused looks from the two others. "If I engage now, Beck will know that we know and we’ll be in even more shit. And everyone else with us. I'll keep an eye out, make sure nothing happens. Stay close. I’ll update the rest."

Without another word, he made his way over to the rest of his friends, sitting down in the empty seat next to Virgil. He shifted a bit so the drone hovering nearby couldn’t see his mouth — just in case it could make out what he was about to say. 

“Bad news, guys,” he said softly, catching the attention from his partner and two best friends. Remus was sat a bit further away, talking to Janus. He didn’t want to interrupt them, so he’d text- no. Beck had EDITH. Texting was a terrible idea. “There’s drones circling the bus. There’s one behind you right now. I can’t do anything at the moment, but we need to be careful.”

Right on cue, another flash of lighting appeared, followed by a loud clap of thunder as it hit the side of one of the bridge’s towers. Roman knew that it was all fake, but damn, it still scared him. Another clap of thunder sounded, coming from the other side. The wind started to pick up, and Roman couldn’t help but wonder how the hell Beck was doing all of this. He must have possession of some insane illusion tech — and a lot of it, too. 

Then, his senses suddenly picked up on the doors of the bus opening downstairs, followed by someone walking closer to the door. The teen frowned and get up, leaning forwards so he could look down in the direction where the bus doors would be. Virgil gave him a confused glance as he moved to the side a bit, giving himself and Roman a little more space. Down on the ground, the hero could just see that, as he suspected, the fucking bus driver was trying to make a break for it. 

“The bus driver is getting away,” he muttered, looking at the man for just a second longer before he turned back to his friends, who returned this look with confusion. 

“What?”

“Like I said… he’s leaving.” He nodded in the direction of the man running away from the chaos. Sure, he could get behind the man wanting to leave. With all of this shit happening around them… yeah, Roman would want to get out of here as well. But couldn’t he come up and tell them to leave? Or even just come up and fucking say that he was leaving, instead of running away with his tail between his legs like a damn coward? 

“So now what?”

Before Roman could say anything, Harrington announced that he as going down to ask the driver what to do. So Roman shrugged. “I guess he’ll find out soon enough.” 

It would cost them a few seconds, and Roman actually hated the thought of that — a lot could happen in just a few seconds. But he couldn’t exactly say that the driver left without a good explanation. What as he supposed to say? That he was keeping an eye out to make sure that the fucking bus driver stayed in his place? Yeah, that was believable. 

Harrington went downstairs, intending to talk to the bus driver about whether or not it was safe to stay up here. Now, Roman wasn’t an expert on this subject, but even without his current knowledge, he didn’t think it would be safe to be on the top deck of a double-decker bus in the middle of what seemed like a thunderstorm gone mad, but who was he to make a decision like that, right? He wasn’t a bus driver, he was just an eighteen year old kid trying not to get himself killed.

As expected, it didn’t take long for Harrington to come back up. Immediately, Dell asked him what the driver had said, clearly eager to leave. 

“The bus driver’s gone!” The panicked response from their teacher caused panic from the students as well, multiple voices asking him what he said, not daring to believe that they had heard him correctly. What kind of bus driver would leave in a situation like this? Without saying anything at that. A question Roman would like answered as well. 

“It’s okay,” Harrington tried to reassure the students — and himself, probably. He looked like he was about to drop dead on the spot. “Mister Dell and I have it under control.”

“No, no, no,” Mister Dell immediately jumped in. “Don’t drag me into this, Roger.”

“I’m doing my best, Julius!” Harrington yelled, clearly in a panic. They all were stressed anyways, being called in the middle of what had to be the weirdest storm ever. This wasn’t helping. “Look-” 

He stopped when next to them, the water from the Thames started to rise up in tendrils that very much resembled those from the Water Elemental that was supposed to have attacked in Venice. And much like in Venice, Roman couldn’t sense them. Somehow, this knowledge helped reassure Roman. If he didn’t sense it… it wasn’t real. That’s how this worked, right? Beck was behind all of this, so anything Roman couldn’t sense, was an illusion. That didn’t make this any less dangerous, but it was good to know it was just one man behind this instead of  _ actual  _ elemental monsters.

“Oh, the witches are back!” Dell called out, pointing to the tendrils of water. 

“Oh my God, get off the bus!” 

Harrington didn’t have to say that twice. Even if he hadn’t said anything, the students would have been sure to make their way out of the bus. They were  _ not  _ going to stay in the middle of this. And Roman, while knowing this was fake, was eager to get out of the way of the maniac that had reason to kill him right now. 

“Get Remus and Janus,” he called to his friends as they rushed to get off the bus. “And stay close to me.” He looked back, making eye contact with Ned and MJ, who were luckily looking out for him as well. He jerked his head back, signalling to them to follow him. He needed everyone to be in one place if he wanted to be able to protect all of them. And he really,  _ really  _ did. He might not be able to, but damn it if he wasn’t gonna try.

The class ran outside of the bus as quickly as they could, trying to get to safety. There were still people on the roads, trying to get away from the monster themselves, so navigating the street without being hit by anything as a challenge in itself. Harrington stayed in front of the group, raising his hand to make sure they could see him as he tried to get them to safety. At least relatively. 

As they ran, Roman realised that he sensed multiple drones flying around, close to where the monster would be, as opposed to the previous times Beck had shown up. He had reasoned that the villain must have found a way to cloak his drones but… how? And why did he sense some of the drones? Why now? Why not in Venice? Or Prague?

He didn’t have much time to think about it, though, as yet another thunderstrike hit the bus behind him, causing a slight explosion that threw the bus into the river. Seems like they left just in time. Was that really how Beck was planning to kill them, or was it a coincidence that their bus was the one to get hit? Was the bus driver just bailing on them like that even a coincidence? Was  _ anything _ ? 

A loud roar sounded behind the group as they ran. And even though he knew it was fake, it was intimidating as all shit. Fake or not, this monster could do real damage. They had to be careful. 

But even when they’d made it off the bridge, they weren’t safe. Water crashed against the roads on the side with so much force that it broke the walls on the shore. Now that they were to the side, Roman could see that Beck had used elements of all of his previous creations; the water tentacles from Venice, mixed with a fiery glow from Prague, and even the storm with a face that Hill had mentioned before. 

They kept running and Roman couldn’t stop himself from thinking that there had to be something he could do, right? Not just to protect his friends — who were at a real risk here, depending on what Beck would know — but the rest of his class. Preferably the rest of London, but that might be a bit much for him. He just hoped Peter had gotten to Fury and they could do something about this situation, because this was a bit too much for one little Roman to handle. 

They crossed a corner and Harrington stopped, deeming it safe enough to stop and catch a breath. This also gave them the time to take a look at what was happening — and it gave Roman the chance to think about what to do. There had to be something, but he couldn’t do anything about illusions and drones he couldn’t sense. 

“Earth, wind, fire, water,” Dell summed up, looking at the monster that now threatened the Tower Bridge. “Oh no, they’re joining forces like the Power Rangers!”

“You’re thinking of Voltron,” Harrington corrected offhandedly. 

“Who?”

“Voltron! You’re thinking of Voltron!”

“Hey, look,” Brad called out, pointing at something in the sky. “It’s Mysterio! He’s gonna save us!”

Roman resisted the urge to roll his eyes as the fake Mysterio shot blast of green energy at the fusion-Elemental. Fucking… Quentin Beck making himself look like a hero. He wished that he could tell his class the truth, but how on Earth was he supposed to explain how he knew that? It wasn't as if this was just… public knowledge. And he didn’t want to endanger them either. Especially with Flash livestreaming everything, even now. It would be easy to slip up and let  _ everyone  _ know Mysterio was a fake. Including Mysterio himself. And then they would be doomed for real.

“Wait,” MJ said softly as she turned to the others. “If Mysterio knows we know…”

“We’re in danger,” Ned finished. 

“And so are they.”

Roman nodded, knowing very well that she was right. “We have to go,” he muttered, looking at the group before him, eyes shooting to the monster. He didn’t like the idea of running away like that, but… it was the only thing they could do. MJ was right; them being there put everyone else in danger. “Come on.”

He tapped Virgil’s shoulder. When he got his boyfriend’s attention he made a gesture to tell him to leave. “Get the others,” he murmured. “We can’t stay. Too dangerous.”

Virgil nodded and softly told the rest of his group what Roman had said. Creativity already ran away from the group, the rest of his friends following behind. He kept a strong focus on his telekinesis, wanting to be sure that everyone was okay. Ned took Betty with him — understandably, but they weren’t a small group already, so if it was smart… he wasn’t sure. There was yet someone else following them, and it took Roman a second longer to recognize them, but he soon realised that it was Flash fucking Thompson, taking any excuse to get away from the scene. Roman wanted to tell him that it was a dumb idea, but he was too busy trying to not die. 

There were still a few drones following them. Roman, deciding to be safe, grabbed them with his telekinesis and pushed down harshly, throwing them to the ground. Beck’s plan had been set in motion and they were going to die anyways, so he stopped worrying about what would happen. He had to do  _ something _ . 

Just then, Roman heard a ruckus, a voice behind him standing out. Undeniably Flash. “Holy shit,” he yelled out, still livestreaming, “the monster was full of drones, it’s crazy!” 

“Full of-?” He looked around, only to see that the entire illusion had disappeared, instead making way for all the drones that made up the illusion. Unfortunately, Roman still couldn’t sense those drones, due to whatever Beck had done to them. He then turned around and continued running. They needed to get out of here nonetheless. Despite him wondering what had happened to cause the drones to be revealed, he kept going. There was no time. 

A plane flew over low, landing in the middle of the large patch of grass in front of them. Roman looked at it suspiciously as he ran on, though ready to turn back if it turned out to be bad news. Quickly, though, a door opened and he sensed a familiar person walking out; none other than Happy Hogan. 

“This way,” he called out to his friends (and Flash), not giving himself a second to think about why the hell Happy would even be here. He was just glad to know that there was someone that could help them. 

“Roman,” Happy called out as he ran in the direction of the group, who in turn rushed towards him. As Roman stopped, Happy subtly transferred something into Roman’s hand, the teen took a look at the small object and sent him a confused glance. It was an earpiece.

“Happy,” Creativity breathed, as he put in the earpiece without questioning it. “What are you-”

“I gotta get you guys out of here,” the man explained in a rush. Roman raised an eyebrow and Happy nodded, confirming his suspicion that Beck most certainly knew, or at the very least, was planning to kill them. “Get on the jet!”

MJ frowned, clearly not trusting it. “Who are you?”

“He’s-”

“I work with Spider-Man,” he said, shooting a quick look at Roman. “And Creativity.”

“You work for Spider-Man?” Flash asked, about ready to pass out from the fact he was talking to someone who knew his idol. Because they didn’t have any trouble chasing them. Or drones. No, talking to someone who works with Spider-Man is the only thing happening right now.

“I work  _ for  _ Spider-Man, not _ with  _ Spider-Man,” Happy corrected, seemingly very attached to the difference between the two. 

Roman was about to open his mouth to make a comment about how they were  _ literally  _ in danger of getting killed right this second, when the jet blew up behind them. Well… maybe this momentary hold-up had been good, then. At least they weren’t in the plane.

“New plan-” 

“Go to the Tower,” Remus quickly suggested, already going in the direction of the entrance to the Tower. Roman had no idea what he was on about, but he had to know what he was doing, so he followed his twin, making sure the others followed. 

_ “Are you guys okay?” _

Roman jumped as Peter’s voice suddenly spoke in his ear, but he quickly calmed down as he came to the conclusion that it was the earpiece Happy had given him. Duh. It was a relief to hear that Peter seemed to be okay, though. Roman was worried sick about him.

“We’re okay,” Happy answered quickly, “just get Beck.”

“There’s drones coming,” Roman announces as he felt two drones drawing nearer. “You go ahead. I’ll close ranks.”

He slowed down slightly, picking up the pace when Patton, the last in line, had passed. From here, he would be able to keep an eye on the drones that came up behind them. If any drones would ambush them from the front… he’d have do his best to take those out as well. But for now, he just wanted to be sure the others were safe and these drones behind them were a threat. They needed to get somewhere safe before he took out the drones. Beck could just send new ones if they stayed out here. 

“Into the Crown Jewels’ vault!” Happy shouted as the group proceeded. The drones were still tailing close behind, but as they approached the Tower, the Queen’s Guards started shooting at the drones, damaging them but not enough to take them out fully. 

“Yeah, no shit,” Remus hissed out as he followed Happy, looking back to make sure his friends and brother were okay. That had been his entire fucking plan all along, so it wasn’t as if Happy just came up with a game changing plan. 

Roman slowed down a little so he could take down the drones with his powers. He managed to throw one of the drones into the wall next to him and destroy it in the process. But — as if someone on the other side of the weapon had seen him do this — as Roman turned to take on the remaining two, he realised that suddenly, he couldn’t sense them anymore. The drones were still there, Roman could  _ see  _ them. He just didn’t sense them. Oh. This was bad. This was really bad. 

The teen hero cursed and ran back to the others, needing to find another way to protect the others now that he couldn’t destroy the drones. Not right now, at least. Not until they were somewhere safe. 

There was one thing he could think of that would be able to protect them, but… No, you know what? Fuck it. 

Roman made the split-second decision to stop caring about hiding his identity from the rest of their group — two of them, at least. The others were about to die if he didn’t do anything, so he tapped the bracelet on his wrist three times, activating his suit. 

“I can’t sense them anymore,” Roman called out to Patton and Janus, who were just in line before him. 

“What?” Patton looked at him with ide eyes for just a second, before looking in front of him again, to make sure he didn’t run into anything. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t sense the drones, he used some kind of- of cloaking tech, or whatever it is.” He shook his head, having no idea how Beck could do that, but he didn’t want to give it another thought. Not when people could die here. 

They made it to the vault without anyone getting shot, which as a relief of some kind, but that didn’t last long. Once they got inside, the drones seemed to think it was safe to shoot and it started firing rapidly, hitting glass cases and armours in the room. Immediately, Roman stopped just a little in front of the doorway, willing his suit to create two shields on his arms, which he used to protect the others. And while a lot of the bullets were stopped by his bulletproof suit, he couldn’t stop them all. No one got hurt yet, but it got dangerously close.

“Take cover,” he called out to the rest, still standing in the middle of the room. “I’ve got this.”

For now. He knew the nanobots in his suit had the ability to repair his suit to some extent, but he also knew that it was limited. And he spent a lot of bots on keeping up his shields. 

The others took cover, hiding behind the walls on both sides of the room or glass cases. Roman stayed in the middle, taking all the gunfire until it stopped. He got rid of one of the shields and used the other to hit one of the two drones away, causing it to crash through a glass case and into the wall with a loud crack. The hero now also made the second shield disappear and focussed on the remaining drone, wanting to go in for the attack. But then, the drone changed its weapon, from your typical gun to one with a slightly wider barrel. And before Roman could even narrow his eyes in confusion, the drone released a strong pulse, like a blast of air, strong enough to throw Roman back, crashing through one of the class cases containing an old shield. 

The hero groaned and pushed himself up. He was starting to think he would feel this tomorrow. The drone edged closer to him and from the corner of his eye, Roman saw MJ reaching out to take a morningstar out of the hands of a suit of armour next to her — as if he needed any more proof that she and Remus were perfect for each other. Platonically. 

Clearly, she had underestimated the weight of the weapon and she nearly dropped it, getting the attention of the drone nearing her. He cursed under his breath and tried to get up to stop it or draw its attention to himself, but before he could, Ned and Betty pushed over the armour they had been hiding behind, The noise drew the drone’s attention and it immediately started shooting at the source of the noise — the armour. Now that it was turned away from her, MJ found the chance to hit it with the morningstar in her hands. It was enough to damage it, but it was still active and shooting everywhere now. 

“Get into the vault,” Roman called out over the gunfire and noises of shattering glass as he shielded the others, trying to make sure no one got hurt. Luckily, most of them already seemed to have come up with the same idea as they started running immediately. He told himself he’d stay out here, make sure no one would get hurt. Whether he ended up destroying the drones or whether he’d have to stand out here until Peter could get control of the situation, he didn’t know. But he’d do anything he could to protect the others.

“Roman,” Patton tried to convince his friend as he passed him on his way to the vault, “you should-”

“Get into the vault,” Roman interrupted, pushing the other in the direction of said vault gently yet urgently, “I’ve got this.”

He didn’t, he very much didn’t. Being unable to sense the drones was… shitty. To say the very least. But he had to protect them and the best way to do that was staying outside. Then, he had a chance to take out the drones.

“Here, take this,” he said as he created a shield and pressed it into his friend’s hands. “If anything happens, now go.” He pushed Patton into the vault, where Happy was waiting for the last teens to enter.

Virgil still had to enter and as he passed, Roman had an idea — one that he might regret later, but that wasn’t anything new to him. He willed the suit to pull back, forming into the bracelet once more. 

“Virge,” he called out, rushing over as he slipped the bracelet off. “Here.” He grabbed his boyfriend’s arm and slipped the bracelet on, tapping three times. “You’ll need this.”

“What?” Virgil eyed the bracelet as the suit started to form around his body. “Roman, you can’t-”

“I’ll be fine,” Roman insisted looking back at the drone. “It’s pretty intuitive. If you want it to form anything, just think and it’ll work.” He pushed Virgil in the direction of the vault. “Just go, I’ll be fine.”

It was more than obvious that Virgil was about to protest, but Roman made eye contact with Happy and nodded, telling the man to just close the doors and call it here. 

“I’m sorry, V,” Creativity said as he turned around. “You’ll need this more. I’m going to be just fine.”

The doors to the vault closed behind him, leaving just the teenager and the drone in the room. He summoned a shield, good enough to protect his head and torso — none of those tiny, small shields that could barely protect you, sorry Cap — and held it up so he could duck behind it if the drones started to shoot. 

“Come on Beck, is that all you got?” Roman asked as he summoned a sword in his right hand. He needed to be smart about this, but if he was quick, he might be able to hit the drone and destroy it before anything could happen. 

Before Roman could even prepare himself, the drone fired something at him. Yet another one of those strong blasts of air. This time, he hit the thick doors to the vault, his head slamming into the door harshly. 

He fell to the ground with a huff, his head spinning and ears ringing from the impact. For a moment or two, Roman felt like he might pass out — and maybe he did, for just a few seconds, he couldn’t be sure. For sure was the fact that he heard a few voices behind him calling out in worry, but they were mostly muffled by the doors. They also resonated vaguely in his earpiece, just enough to make out his name. 

The response wasn’t immediate. He blinked a few times, starting to feel nauseous. “I’m good,” Creativity finally muttered, still on the ground. He really needed a second to recover and to stop his head from spinning. “I’m good. Just… a little setback.”

He wasn’t really. But he was alive, and that… was more important than anything else. At least he was still here to protect his friends. 

Noticing almost immediately that keeping the shield and sword around was a huge strain on his brain, Roman decided to get rid of them. There was a shield around here that he could grab if he needed it, and there were weapons. And while they wouldn’t be sharp, it was better than nothing. 

However, as Roman finally pushed himself up, he noticed that his powers seemed to be affected somehow. Of course, he’d already noticed this due to the effort it took to maintain the physical form of the objects he’d created, but on top of that, his senses weren’t as accurate as they usually were. He could get a vague sense of where everything was, but if he wanted to know  _ what  _ it was, he’d have to focus on it directly. It didn’t seem to work subconsciously, like it normally did.

The second thing he noticed as he blinked his eyes open, was that his surroundings had changed. Where the floor beneath him had been a dark brown wood, it was now made of cold metal, very vaguely reflecting the light of a weak source far away. Roman looked up, his head still spinning. He had to blink a few times, the lights seeming far too bright. After a moment or two, Roman could look around properly, even though his head was still killing him. In front of him, the hero saw a sight that- in no way resembled the Tower. He saw a large, metal room. A dashboard all the way in the back and a few chairs. Through the large windows, the teenager could see a few that was both gorgeous and terrifying at the same time; a large void of black, lit up by the light from a cloud of red, green and blues. The Tarantula Nebula; Roman had seen more than enough pictures of it to remember what it looked like. It truly looked gorgeous, but he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of uncomfortableness in the pits of his stomach. He remembered his last trip to space all too well and that wasn’t something he wanted to recreate.

It was only a second that he allowed himself to get distracted by this view. He took a few steps closer, but all too soon realised that this wasn’t supposed to… be here. He wasn’t actually in space. 

“I know this is you, Beck,” Roman muttered as he took a few steps forwards. His voice was soft and uncertain. He didn’t even know if Beck would be able to hear him. But he felt like he had to at least do something. “What, you think using a generic image from space and a spaceship will scare me?”

He huffed as he crossed his arms. Even though he knew this wasn’t real, Roman hated the memories this visual brought along. It was more of an unpleasant memory more than anything, especially since he  _ knew  _ it wasn’t real and he could hold on to that thought, but… it wasn’t a pleasant sight by any means. 

_ “Roman? Are you- are you there? I might… need some help here, I- I can’t…” _

Roman froze as he heard Peter’s strained voice. Was that…  _ him _ ? Or was it Beck trying to mess with him, knowing that it would kill him if something happened to Peter? He heard nothing else. Not from Happy, not from Peter, but his heart was pounding nervously as he put his finger to his ear. 

“Happy, did you- did you hear that?” He asked hurriedly. “I mean- Pete. Did he say anything?”

_ “I didn’t hear anything _ ,” Happy responded, causing Roman to calm down, but only slightly. “ _ What do you mean?” _

The teen shook his head. “Nothing,” he said stubbornly, trying to convince his mind that Peter was just fine. “I think it’s Beck. Trying to fuck with me.”

_ “Roman, are you- please tell me you’re okay,”  _ Peter’s voice sounded in his ear once more. Roman shook his head. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t him. Even if it sounded so real and it hurt Roman to have to listen to it. It wasn’t real. It was just Beck trying to get to him. Well, he wasn’t going to let him. He was not going to let Beck fucking win this. 

“Happy,” the teen muttered as his eyes darted across the room. He expected anything to come at him any second now, and the fact that his powers weren’t functioning optimally unsettled him to no end. As well as the fact that he didn’t have his suit. Maybe he’d made a mistake giving it to Virgil? “Please let me know if he actually says something.”

As Happy confirmed that he would do this, there was a bright light, coating everything in white so painfully bright that Roman had to close his eyes until the light faded away. When he could finally open his eyes again, the young hero found that he was back in the Tower. It all seemed to be normal, except there was one difference that made Roman stumble back in shock as his heart seemed to jump out of his chest. Standing in front of him was none other than the one and only Tony Stark in all his former glory.

He wasn’t real. Of course he wasn’t. He couldn’t be. But that didn’t mean that there wasn’t a part of Roman that wanted to throw himself at the man and hold him close, never let go. God, he missed Tony. So fucking much. 

“Oh, that’s a dick move, Beck,” Creativity scoffed softly, unable to rip his eyes away from the image of the man in front of him. “That’s a real dick move.”

As it would turn out rather quickly, Roman spoke way too soon. Almost as soon as he had said these words, the hero saw someone else appearing in front of him, not far behind Tony. None other than the Mad Titan himself. And despite him being dead and not even  _ real _ , Roman hated to admit that the sight of the creature who wiped out half the life in the entire universe with a simple snap of his fingers, still instilled a certain kind of fear in him. Even if he was dead. 

“Really?” the hero tried with a soft scoff, his eyes taking note of the golden gauntlet on the alien’s left hand. “Is that supposed to hurt me? I watched him die. Twice. You’re not fooling anyone with this crap. I know it’s fake.”

“Who’s to say it isn’t?” Thanos smirked — Beck had even nailed his voice, much to Roman’s detestation. As the alien lifted his left arm, Roman saw the six stones decorating the gauntlet and he exactly knew what was coming next. 

“No.” He clenched his fist, his nails digging into his skin. “Don’t you fucking dare. Don’t even go there you-” 

He cut himself off when the Titan snapped, covering everything in a bright light, yet again. Roman squeezed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the thoughts running through his head at a quite frankly worrying rate. It was fake, all of it was fake. Beck was trying to fuck with him. It wasn’t  _ real _ . Even if it looked and felt so, so real. 

When the light faded away, Roman opened his eyes again. That had been a mistake. Because when he did open his eyes again, he saw he was still in the same place, except… it was starting to turn to dust. Or at least- the objects in the room were. No, it  _ seemed  _ like they were. And somehow, it was a horribly unsettling sight. It reminded Roman of the actual snap way too much for his liking. He hated it. 

“Cut it out,” he said softly, his resolve starting to fall apart. He just… couldn’t be bothered to deal with this anymore. He knew something was going on. He knew that Beck was planning something and he didn’t want to relive all his traumas on top of dealing whatever it was that Mysterio was going to do. “I know you’re-”

Roman cut himself off when he sensed something. He didn’t know what it was — his powers were still too fucked up from hitting his head — but he knew it was something. Some… disturbance. And it was coming from the direction of the vault. 

“Guys?” he asked, whipping his head around. Of course, he couldn’t see anything. Beck was sure to camouflage whatever he was planning to do. But Roman  _ knew  _ that something was wrong. “What’s happening? I think something’s happening but I don’t see it. Are you guys alright?”

He was sure there was a response, but he didn’t hear it. A drone had taken use of his momentary distraction and shot another pulse of air at him. That was the third of the day. The hero was once again pushed into the thick walls to the vault and he fell to the floor with a soft groan. 

_ “I didn’t want to do this, Roman,”  _ Mysterio’s voice sounded out of nowhere. It seemed to come from every corner of the room, echoing throughout the room in a typical horror-movie fashion.  _ “But you’ve left me no choice.” _

“Bullshit,” Roman hissed as he slowly pushed himself up, his shoulders and back aching like crazy. His head was spinning out of control, but he wouldn’t let that stop him from protecting his friends. In any other situation, he would have collapsed, closed his eyes and laid there for as long as he needed, but he couldn’t do that right now. His friends needed him. He couldn’t just allow Beck to kill them like that! “This is all you. No one made you, you jackass.”

_ “I didn’t think you’d understand.” _

Suddenly, Roman sensed something happening behind him. Like his powers were picking up on something new. It was vague, but he felt that there was something new behind him. The hero turned around and saw that there was a square hole in the middle of the doors leading to the vault. His heart stopped as he saw this. He figured that it had to be real. He felt the room behind the doors, so… that couldn’t be fake, right? This was actually there?

Roman cast a glance at the vault. Part of him dreaded what he would see when he did, but another part of him was insanely curious to see what it would be. But when he looked inside, he really fucking wished he hadn’t. Inside the vault, whether it was real or not, he saw the others. Lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

First was Happy, seemingly trying to protect the rest of the group, hit by a number of bullets. Next to him was Patton, who by the looks of it had tried to shield Flash — of course he would; he was too sweet to let anyone die, even a douche like Flash Thompson. Unfortunately, he had failed, since both of them had been killed by the drone in the middle of the vault. Ned and Betty were huddled together next to them, of course they were. They’d barely left each other’s side during this entire trip. The prospect of a certain death wouldn’t change that. 

Logan was next, hit by multiple bullets in the chest, red staining his clothes. Next to him, Roman saw MJ, still holding on to the morningstar she had grabbed earlier. Remus was right next to her; it seemed like he had been trying to protect her as well — again, in vain, since both of them had been killed by multiple bullets. 

Virgil was there as well, except he was separated from the group slightly, slumped against the side wall of the vault, the suit having been pulled back into the bracelet once more — why on Earth had he even done that? What had happened? 

Roman didn’t have the time to think about that little technicality there. His heart seemed to throb in his throat and it was as if his stomach dropped to the ground. Even if this wasn’t real, this was- not what he was hoping to see today. Pretty much the thing he’d been dreading ever since he found out about Beck… He did not want to see that become a reality. Even if it wasn't real, it was here before his eyes, and that was already far too real for him.

The hero stumbled back, bumping into something solid, causing it to fall over and hit the ground with a loud bang — one of the glass cases containing a lance. Roman flinched back at the loud noise the case made as it hit the ground and shook his head, seemingly unable to tear his eyes away from the door. 

“Are you guys okay?” he asked with a clear tremble in his voice. “Happy, please tell me you guys are alive.”

_ “Yeah. Yeah, we’re okay.”  _ Roman could easily say he’d never been so relieved to hear Happy’s voice. His heart was still pounding wildly and the image of their bodies was one he’d never get out of his head, but at least they were alive. 

“Oh, thank God,” he said with a relieved sigh. He was about to speak up again, but suddenly, the drones in the room suddenly turned around and left. And as it turned out, there had been a handful of drones Roman hadn’t noticed. They lifted their camouflage mode as they just… left. Leaving behind just a group of confused people. 

As Roman glanced in the direction of the vault, he saw, indeed, the group of his friends — and co. Alive and well. Thank goodness. He rushed over and opened the doors. 

“Oh my God, are you guys okay?” He got a few mumbles in return, but everyone was too focussed on the fact that they almost died, as well as the ruin around them. Roman wanted to make sure that everyone was okay. But he didn’t have the time, as this might not be over yet. “Virgil.” Roman gestured to his wrist. 

Virgil, still wearing the suit, immediately understood what his boyfriend meant. The suit immediately disappeared, pulling back into the bracelet, which Virgil easily slipped off and tossed to Roman. 

He gave everyone a quick look as he put on the bracelet, tapping three times to make the suit form again. “You guys stay here, I will-” He stopped as MJ ran off, not even giving him the time to speak. Probably to see Peter, which was cute but… also dumb. 

“Where are you going?” Happy called out after her. 

“I’ll go after her.” Roman already took a few steps back. “Make sure Beck’s defeated. You guys stay here.”

  
He didn’t give them any time to answer before running after MJ. Despite the pounding in his head and the nauseous feeling overwhelming him. He  _ had  _ to be sure Beck was defeated, and he  _ had  _ to be sure Peter was okay. Besides, he couldn’t let MJ just run out like that when he didn’t even know if it was safe. It sucked and he felt absolutely miserable. But it had to happen. He needed to protect his friends. 


	14. CHAPTER THIRTEEN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: injuries, discussion of off-screen character death, discussion of possible death

Roman followed MJ to the Tower Bridge, where he saw Peter limping in the middle of the bridge, wrecks of cars and drones all around him. MJ ran up to him, hugging him tightly and Roman decided to give the two of them a little bit of privacy. Maybe they would finally get to the romance part everyone had been anticipating for months. 

Creativity leaned against one of the towers of the bridge. Everything seemed to be alright again. After all, he doubted Peter would just take the time to talk to MJ if Beck was still a threat. That was good. 

Finally, Roman allowed himself a bit of rest, closing his eyes as he leaned against the bricks. Almost immediately, he realised how nauseous and lightheaded he felt. As if he could fall over any moment. He felt unsteady and disoriented. Could be a concussion— though he hoped he was wrong; he didn’t want to be out of commission for weeks. And that certainly would be the case if he had a concussion. But it didn’t seem unlikely. He  _ did  _ get thrown into a wall twice. And he had no suit or superhuman durability to protect him. Maybe he’d have to get that checked out in a bit. 

Roman blinked his eyes opened again and saw Peter and MJ still talking. And kissing — finally. And talking a bit more. Eventually, MJ started backing up. When she picked up the morningstar to go on her way back, Roman moved up closer, having decided it was his turn to talk to his friend. She noticed the other hero and shot him a small smile, which Roman returned. 

“Pete?” he called carefully, alerting Spider-Man to his presence. The mask on his suit pulled back, revealing his face. There was no one around here, and it seemed that there was no threat anymore, so he didn’t see the harm in that. It was only the two of them, after all. 

Peter whipped around as soon as he heard Roman’s voice, a smile appearing on his face as he saw the other. Almost immediately, he threw himself at the older hero, holding him tightly. A gesture that was eagerly returned. Even if Roman stumbled back ever so slightly. 

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Peter brought out in a low whisper, all the emotions he’d gone through over the past… time audible in his voice. 

“I know,” Roman muttered in return, closing his eyes. “Me too.”

He was so relieved to see Peter still standing. Sure, he had sustained injuries from the fight, but he was alive and that was what mattered. Roman knew that, if anything worse had happened to Peter, he’d never forgive himself. Not after everything else that had happened. 

“You  _ are  _ okay... right?” Peter asked softly, wanting to be  _ sure _ . He was probably at least as worried about Roman as Roman was about him. If anything had happened… 

“I am.” Roman pulled away slightly to get a better look at him, his hands resting on his friend’s shoulders. “A little concussion, probably, but-”

“ _ What? _ ”

“I’m fine, Pete,” Creativity promised, despite feeling not quite fine. He didn’t want to worry his friend more than necessary. “Really.”

Peter looked at Roman for a few seconds and it was clear from his eyes that he was most certainly worried regardless — not surprising for anyone. But, knowing Roman well enough to know exactly how their conversation would go, he sighed and dropped the subject. 

“And the-”

“Everyone’s okay,” Creativity interrupted before Peter could even finish. “Well… I don’t know about the rest of the class, we… kind of lost them, but  _ we’re  _ okay.” 

Peter nodded, looking at his friend. “Good,” he said. “Good, I’m…” He stopped himself, not even knowing what to say anymore. He didn’t know what to do anymore. After everything that happened… 

“Flash and Betty do know about… the whole Creativity thing, though,” Roman informed. “So we’re gonna have to deal with that. You’re still good, though. They don’t know anything about you.”

Peter managed a small smile. “Good luck,” he said with a small chuckle. 

“Thanks,” Roman smiled in return. “I think I’m going to need it.”

The two of them remained silent for a bit. Peter gave Roman a brief look, looking away for just a second before turning back to his friend once more, biting his bottom lip gently. 

“Roman,” he finally started softly, as if he was scared he was going to say something dumb or hurtful. “Beck, did he- did he use…”

“The illusion tech?” Roman finished, having a feeling where Peter wanted to go with his question. As expected, the younger of the two heroes nodded carefully. “Yeah, he did. On you too?”

Peter nodded again. “In Berlin,” he answered softly. “He- he tricked me, I- I thought he was- he was Fury and I… told him you guys knew but... “ 

“It’s okay,” Creativity said, seeing how horribly Peter felt about this situation. He could only wonder how bad the other would feel about this — as ridiculous as it was; it clearly wasn’t his fault. Beck knew what he was doing. Anyone would fall for his tricks. “I understand. It’s not your fault, Peter.”

“But I- he…”

“It’s not your fault,” Roman stressed. Peter scrunched up his face, clearly disagreeing with the statement. He did not argue, however. Instead, he hugged Roman once more, taking comfort in the embrace of his friend. 

Roman closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Peter, relishing their hug just as much. After everything, it was nice to just… have a quiet moment with his friend. But he knew it couldn’t last as long as he wanted it to. Unfortunately, there were other things for him to deal with.

“I think… I’m gonna have to go back,” Roman he after a little while. “Find the others, and… get back to the class somehow.”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, yeah you should.”

“What are you going to do, though?”

The younger hero shrugged, not being quite sure what to do. He did have to get back home somehow. But he’d have some time to figure that out. And he’d have a Happy to help him, on top of that.

“Alright.” Roman took a few steps back, part of him feeling reluctant to leave Peter behind. Even though the danger had passed and Beck posed no threat anymore, he couldn’t help but feel like anything could happen. They’d been tricked before, and that resulted in their collective near-demise. Roman wouldn’t be surprised if Beck had made some plan to kill them, even now. It was probably nothing but paranoia speaking, but… he didn’t want to even risk it. He was scared of making a mistake that would lead to his friend getting hurt. But he couldn’t stay here. He needed to find his class and make sure everyone was still okay. “I’ll... see you later, then.”

He then made his way back to the Tower, where he regrouped with the others. They had left the building by now, MJ having told them that everything was okay and they were safe to leave. Roman’s suit disappeared into his bracelet as he walked up to the rest. 

Almost immediately, Virgil ran up to him, throwing his arms around Roman’s neck. “Don’t ever do that again,” he hissed softly, worry more prominent than any other emotion. 

“You know I can’t promise that,” Roman smiled as he returned the hug. “But I’ll try.” He then turned to the rest of the group, not far behind. “Are you guys okay?” 

The others nodded, even though they were definitely still shaken up. And how could they not be? They’d been chased by drones, and almost killed by a drone on top of that. That was fucking terrifying as shit. But at least no one had gotten physically hurt, and Roman was relieved to know that. He didn’t know what he would do if he found out that anyone had gotten hurt because of him — even Flash. He was a jerk but it would suck if he’d gotten hurt because of Roman. That would still suck. 

“Good,” he said with a soft sigh of relief. “Everything should be taken care of now, so… you’re good now. Beck isn’t a threat anymore.”

“Thanks,” Betty said softly as she made eye contact with Roman. “For… what you did back there. And Prague… It was you in Prague, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “It was.”

Betty gave a small nod, looking at Ned for a second before she responded. “Well… thanks for that, too.”

Roman gave her a hesitant smile, not sure how to respond. “No worries,” he said finally. “It’s nothing. Honestly.” He remained silent for a little while longer before he turned back to the rest of the group — or, more specifically, Betty and Flash. “And I can trust you guys not to tell anyone about…” He gestured to himself in an attempt to figure out how to phrase his question. “Right?”

Luckily, the both of them nodded — even Flash, which was surprising. He was still a jerk, though. But if he could keep his mouth shut… he’d be good for now. Roman didn’t want his identity to become public, so he hoped they both of them would manage to… shut up. 

“Wait,” Flash said suddenly, connecting two dots in his head. “Do you know Spider-Man?”

Roman resisted the urge to punch the guy in the face right there as he turned to look at him. “We were seconds away of going home in a box and you want to know if I know  _ Spider-Man _ ?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “Though I mean, yeah- I’m an Avenger, I know everyone. But that’s not the point. You should sort out your priorities.”

He should have seen this coming. Flash was absolutely obsessed with Spider-Man, so it was to be expected. And yet… Roman was still surprised. But that was his own mistake. 

“Oh, and, Happy?” Creativity turned to the man next to him, just before they left. “Thank you so much for… helping out.”

Happy gave him a smile. “Of course, kid,” he said softly. “Anytime.”

“How will you get back? I hope you know I’m not creating you a backup jet.”

This got a small laugh out of Happy. “I’ll figure something out, don’t worry.”

“I don’t think you know who you’re talking to, but sure,” Roman said, raising an eyebrow. “But speaking of worrying… I bet our teachers are worrying themselves to death right now.”

“Yeah, you should go,” Happy said, jerking his head back. “I’ll be fine.”

The hero nodded, taking a few steps back. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “See you later, then. Have a good trip home, if you work it out.”

He made a small salute at Happy before turning around. Now came the next challenge: figuring out where their class could have gone. They could be anywhere at this point.

It took them a little bit — far longer than Roman would have liked in his current situation, the symptoms of his concussion finally catching up with him — but finally, the group found the rest of their class. Luckily, they hadn’t strayed far from where the smaller group had abandoned them in an attempt to find some safety.

The class had made their way back in the direction of the water, looking at the Tower Bridge to see the ravage Beck had created with his drones. A little behind, Roman saw their teachers in the middle of a discussion. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was about them and their sudden disappearance. 

As the group of ten students approached, Dell and Harrington ceased their debate, noticing the newcomers.

“There you are,” Harrington called out in relief as he recognized those newcomers as their missing students. “Thank goodness, is everyone okay?”

There was a soft murmur of ‘yeah’s from the small group. Virgil shot his boyfriend a silent glare, knowing that he wasn’t quite okay. For a moment or two, he considered mentioning that, no Roman actually was a dumbass who’d gotten a concussion and kept on fighting after that like a complete idiot, but it seemed that Harrington seemed to notice it himself. Not surprising with the way Roman leaned against Virgil and how he wasn’t quite steady on his feet. He was just too stubborn to admit it himself. 

“Roman?” Harrington asked as he eyed the student carefully. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Roman responded softly, rubbing his forehead. “I- I’m fine, I just…”

“He has a concussion,” Virgil finished for him. “I think, at least. One of those drones hit him pretty hard.” 

As Roman whined out a soft sound of protest, Harrington looked at him in concern. “That sounds serious,” he commented. “If you need a moment, or-”

Roman shook his head — but only a bit because damn that messed with his brain a  _ lot _ . “No, no, I’m good,” he brought out. “Just… headache. I’m good, though.”

It was clear that this was a lie. And it was clear that Harrington knew. He remained silent for a bit as he tried to think of the best thing to do. They were supposed to leave for the airport rather soon, so they would be in time to catch their flight. But he wasn’t sure if he could just… let Roman take the flight either.

“Very well,” he decided with a hesitant nod. “We’re heading to the airport in a bit.” He eyed the rest of the group, Virgil in particular. “You keep an eye on him.”

“Of course,” Virgil said, casting a look at Roman as he did so. Roman meant well, he really did. But he could be a real dumbass from time to time. Luckily, Virgil and the rest of their group of friends were there to keep an eye on him. He would be a complete disaster without them. 

The class managed to get a bus to take them to the airport. All their luggage had been blown up when Beck sent their bus flying into the Thames. Unfortunate, but that was one less thing to worry about. That didn’t mean it didn’t suck. But at least they were alive. That was more important than a bit of luggage. At least they could replace clothes. Lives were a lot harder to replace. 

Even though the bus ride to the airport didn’t take more than twenty minutes, it felt like an eternity to Roman. He had taken a spot next to the window, so he could lean back against the side of the bus and close his eyes. He tried to lean his head against the window, but the vibrations of the glass just made everything worse, so he quickly discarded that idea. 

He heard his friends talking around him, but he honestly couldn’t get himself to even try to focus on the conversation going on. His head hurt, and since sitting down, he’d only grown more nauseous. It wasn’t necessarily the “I’m gonna throw up right this second”-type, but more the “Oh my God, I’m so miserable and I’m gonna pass out in five seconds”-type. Everything hurt and the sounds around him were way too loud. There was one advantage to the concussion messing with his powers, though; Roman wasn’t as aware of his surroundings as he would have been otherwise. His senses didn’t pick up on everything for once. Which was a good thing, because Roman feared that it would only have made things a lot worse if he would still be able to sense every single thing that happened around him. 

Luckily, even this bus ride came to an end and Roman wasn’t sure he had ever been so happy to get off a bus ever before. He used his powers — with more effort than it would cost him otherwise — to create sunglasses in order to protect himself from the light. It didn’t work completely, but it worked a little, and that was something. 

Being in the airport itself sucked. Too many people, too much noise and the lights were too overwhelming at the moment. So Roman was glad when they made it to the gate, where he immediately dropped into one of the chairs, relieved to not be standing anymore. He really didn’t feel good but he also couldn’t just stay here. No, after everything that happened, he wanted to get home as soon as he possibly could. He wasn’t feeling up for any new events or adventures occuring. Not right now. 

Virgil sat down next to Roman and grabbed the headphones he wore around his neck, silently handing them over to his boyfriend. They would cancel out most of the noise, so maybe that would make everything a little better for him. At least concerning the noise. Roman gave Virgil a small smile as he took the headphones, gladly putting them on. 

As it turned out, Peter had found an excuse to join the rest of the class on the flight home, saying that he had seen what happened and he felt terrible, so instead he just wanted to join the flight back home to be with his aunt. It was a vague excuse, but the teachers seemed to take it — although Brad narrowed his eyes, still suspicious of the teenager. 

Peter walked up to his friends, who had all took up a seat in the rows closest to the gate. He gave MJ an awkward smile as he approached, remaining standing next to her as he looked at the rest. “Hey guys,” he said with a small smile. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, not knowing what to do or say after everything that had happened. “Are you guys-”

“We’re a-okay, Itsy Bitsy,” Remus said with a smile at the other teen, before his eyes darted over to Roman, who had rested his head on Virgil’s shoulders, eyes closed. He heard the vague conversation, but he truly couldn’t be bothered to follow. “Or… most of us.”

Peter followed Remus’ gaze and made a small grimace. ”Yeah,” he muttered, tearing his eyes away from Roman. “What happened?” 

He couldn’t deny that he felt bad about this. He couldn’t help but feel like it was his fault. If he hadn’t given up their names to Beck, then… 

“He gave his suit to Virgil, like a dumbass,” Remus explained with a small huff. “And then proceeded to get blasted into a wall like… twice.” 

Peter flinched ever so slightly. That did not sound good. Especially if he didn’t have his suit. Roman didn’t have superhuman durability or healing like  _ he  _ did, so that was especially bad for him. It was very in character, but not thought out well. 

“He’ll be okay, though, right?”

Remus scoffed softly. “It’s Roman, he never is,” he commented slyly. “But relatively… yeah, I think so. He just needs to take it slow and he  _ will _ . Or he will have to deal with bigger problems than just a concussion.”

He took a moment to look at his twin brother. He didn’t want to admit it out loud, but he did worry about Roman. Roman was just so… dumb sometimes. He meant well, truly, but he hardly ever thought about himself. Even if he was at risk of dying, he just thought of others. Again, take the fact that he jumped on that spaceship about two years ago — yes, Remus would never let him live that down. Roman didn’t know what was happening, where it would take him, or how he’d ever get home. And where did that get him? Almost dying on another spaceship after fighting an alien douchebag who killed half the universe. But Roman didn’t think ahead. He just thought about saving others and that’s all that mattered to him in the moment. And it was noble, he meant well but… he never put himself first. No matter how much Remus and the others tried to lecture him to make him see that he needed to fucking take care of himself, he never listened. He’d always say “yeah, I’ll be better next time”. And he never actually is better the next time something happens. He tries his best, but he’s still an idiot. 

Peter managed a smile at Remus. “Good,” he said, with a nod. He knew that Remus, despite his attitude and his constant bickering with Roman, truly did care about his brother. Even if he tried to play it off like he didn’t. But moments like these showed his true face. He really did want Roman to be okay, even if he masked that moment of vulnerability by a threat. 

“Hey, you did kick Mr. Fishbowl’s ass, right?” Remus asked suddenly after a few moments of silence. 

“Oh. Yeah, of course,” Peter responded. He gave a nod and managed to keep up the smile as he looked at Remus, but the at the same time, the image of Beck’s lifeless body on the ground was all too clear in his head. And even if it wasn’t because of  _ him _ , Peter still felt bad. He didn’t deserve to die. No one did. 

Remus noticed the hesitance in Peter’s voice. He knew it all too well. Roman and Peter were so similar in so many ways and this was the exact habit that Roman displayed only all the time. The one where he’d feel bad about something, but he didn’t want to talk about it for fear of Remus’ reaction, so he pretended not to feel bad and cover it up with a smile and a happy attitude. At first, Remus could be tricked by that, but by now, he knew Roman well enough to spot when he was legit and when he was lying. And right now, Peter was doing that exact same thing. Clearly, there was something he wasn’t telling him, and if Spidey was anything like Roman — and believe me, he was — it had to do with Beck. 

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Remus asked, not bothering to sugarcoat it. He did look around to make sure that there was no one overhearing their conversation. When he was sure that nobody was listening in, he turned his attention to Peter once more. 

“What?” He was clearly caught off guard by this question and he wasn’t sure if he should tell the truth or cover it up. “I- no, he…”

“It’s okay, Webs,” the older teenager reassured him with a surprising gentleness in his voice. “I’m not judging you. If anything, I’d say that’s exactly what the fucker deserves.”

He had hurt Roman, he had hurt Peter and tried to kill them, as well as the rest of his friends. And while Remus couldn’t give a shit about his own fate, the rest of Mysterio’s crimes were bad enough. No one hurt his brother and friend without getting away with it. Beck was lucky to be dead, because Remus would have come after his sorry ass otherwise. And he really wouldn’t be happy.

“I didn’t…” Peter shook his head, looking down for a moment. “It was the drones. I- one of them must have hit him, I don’t know.”

“Hey,” Remus gently nudged the other with his elbow. “Like I said, it’s okay. It’s not on you.”

Peter looked up at the other for a moment, considering what to say in response to this. Finally, he managed the smallest of smiles and nodded. “I guess,” he muttered, still not fully convinced. “Thanks.”

“Of course,” he said with a nod. “Good to know that at least one of our heroes can get things done, huh?”

After that, the conversation between the two of them came to a standstill. It was nice, though. Peter had never spoken to Remus much, honestly. They didn’t seem to have that much in common, so it never… happened. But he was surprisingly nice, honestly. If he wanted to be. If anything, Peter was happy that he was sort of in his group of friends, because… he did not want to get on Remus’ bad side. He felt like Remus could destroy people if he wanted to.

Soon enough, they could board the plane. As usual, the group of friends stuck together as much as they possibly could. Virgil made sure that Roman could get a seat on the aisle so he could easily get up and move around if he needed to. Not that Roman even wanted to; his head felt like it was about to explode. But he appreciated the gesture. It was only Virgil next to him, so Roman knew he didn’t have to deal with that much people walking back and forth. 

The beginning of the flight was probably the worst thing Roman had ever experienced. Flying never affected him much, but this time around, it only made his nausea and his headache worse. He still wore Virgil’s headphones and he rested his forehead against the back of Patton’s chair in front of him. If he passed out right this second, he wouldn’t complain because- shit, this  _ hurt _ . And he’d fought people after he got his wrist broken, he’d gotten stabbed, he’d been thrown into people, into rocks, he’d been thrown  _ from  _ rocks and he had sustained multiple other injuries. But this was something else entirely. 

The worst of it faded away after a while, but Roman still didn’t feel  _ good _ . He felt better, but still like shit. His brain was blurry and he felt like it was a little slower than usually, too. But after a while, he felt like he was at least able to sit and talk to Virgil again. So that was something. It made his trip a little more bearable at least. 

The landing was crap as well, only helping him get a little more nauseous once again. Once the plane came to a stop, everyone got up and started chattering again — luckily enough, Roman still wore Virgil’s headphones, so it was still bearable. He waited a little bit in his seat — he couldn’t get out right now anyways, with the other passengers leaving the plane. He ignored the few pitiful glances he got and pushed himself up. The teen stumbled just a little bit as he got up, but he managed to regain his balance rather quickly, walking out of the plane with just a little help from Virgil. Even though he insisted that he didn’t need it. 

No one had to collect their luggage, since… no one had any luggage anymore. This meant that they could go from the terminal immediately outside. The teachers made sure that everyone was present and feeling alright — Roman especially — before letting the students go home.

Roman blinked a few times as he stepped outside, having to get used to the sunlight. He took off the headphones he had borrowed from Virgil. The sounds were loud, but it wasn't as bad as it was before. He could manage. 

“Thanks for letting me borrow these,” he said as he pushed the headphones into his boyfriend’s hands. “I think I should be good now.”

Virgil gave him a doubtful look as he took the headphones in his hand. “Are you sure?”

“Sure enough,” Roman said with a shrug. Virgil wasn’t too satisfied with the answer, as shown by his sceptical look. But he didn’t bother responding and instead just accepted the answer. He’d probably never get a better answer out of Roman. 

The rest of their friends joined up with them and after a bit of chatter, Remus noticed their moms and he nudged Roman’s ribs gently as he pointed this out. 

“Think we better be going,” he added. “You know mom’s gonna eat her shoe in worry.”

Roman scoffed. “Probably, yeah,” he murmured. Remus had updated their parents on their situation, assured that they were fine, but also Roman had gotten a concussion like an idiot. And of course, they were worried sick, especially at the notion that they still had to take the flight back. But Remus had assured them that everyone would be fine. Which obviously worked only a little, but both Megan and Rachel agreed that they’d feel much better if Roman was home with them, rather than miles away. But it still wasn’t a comfortable thought. Neither of the options were pleasant. Either they force their son to fly home with a concussion, or they tell him to stay there, where they’re  _ not _ . And without luggage, staying in London wasn’t a good idea either. 

The twins said goodbye to their friends and made their way over to their family. Their moms greeted them with a mix of worry and excitement. Of course, they had been worried sick about their kids when they saw what was happening on the news. They knew both of their children, as well as their friends, could handle themselves. They knew Roman had faced big threats before, that he was an Avenger. But no matter how old he got, no matter how many threats he faced and how dangerous they were, he would always be their little boy. He would always be their son and they would always worry about him. 

And Remus… he had a tendency to get himself into trouble wherever he went. And if there wasn’t any trouble, he would  _ create  _ it with his own two hands. Luckily, he had the others around to hold him back. Even though they weren’t quite sure that hanging out with not just one, but two superheroes really… helped. If anything, it only made things worse. But at least the friends that weren’t Roman, Peter or Janus — or even MJ for that matter — would be sure to keep an eye on him in case he went a step too far. Not to say that Roman and Peter wouldn’t do that, but them being superheroes had a bad influence on Remus. Not to mention the fact that he was fiercely protective of them. 

All in all, Megan and Rachel were more than happy to see their sons still alive. They heard what had happened, what  _ could  _ have happened and they probably hadn’t been more scared in their life.

“How are you two?” Megan asked softly as she looked as her sons, reaching up to softly run her fingers through Roman’s hair. The older of the two just let out a gibberish mutter and closed his eyes. That described his current mood rather well, in all honesty. He didn’t have a proper response to how he felt. He wasn’t dead. That was something.

“Pretty good for someone who almost got his brains blown out by a killer drone,” Remus responded with a simple shrug. He really seemed like none of this had affected him, and Roman wouldn’t have expected anything else. He wasn’t sure if this was Remus being his careless self, not caring about dying, or if he felt the need to be okay to take care of the others — Roman more specifically. But if he  _ did  _ care, he most definitely did not show it. Very in character. 

“I’m glad you guys are okay,” Rachel spoke with a smile as she hugged Remus — who made a face, despite him very much enjoying his mother’s hug. “Or… mostly.” 

Roman smiled and nodded as he muttered out a soft agreement. He was exhausted right now and all he really wanted was to go home and sleep. Travelling was tiresome and travelling with a concussion even more. So he could not wait to get home and throw himself at his bed. Only metaphorically, of course, since his head still hurt like hell and he would not want to  _ actually  _ throw himself at his bed in that state.

It seemed that Megan noticed this and she gently started leading her oldest son towards the car. “Let’s get you two home, shall we?” 


	15. EPILOGUE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: lying/framing, mention of death

Recovery was- not great. For the first few days, Roman was allowed to do basically nothing. His mothers told him he couldn’t do anything that require too much mental activity. And as it turned out, literally everything required too much mental activity. He couldn’t use his phone — a disaster — couldn’t read anything, watch TV. Pretty much all he was allowed to do was to lay in bed and rest, apparently. In itself, that wasn’t too bad. It just got boring rather quickly. At least he wasn’t alone, so he could still talk to his family. Remus made sure to update him on anything interesting he missed. Which was, questionable, given the fact that their ideas of ‘interesting’ didn’t completely overlap. But he appreciated the help anyways. 

After a few days of this, Roman was allowed to build up the ‘mental activities’ a little bit. Carefully, to make sure he didn’t strain himself too much, which would only make things worse. He also wasn’t allowed to go out as Creativity, which was understandable, but he still hated it. He just loved being a hero so much and he  _ missed  _ it. 

About a week after they came back from London, Roman was sitting on the couch in the living room. Remus was in the kitchen, getting them something to drink. It was just the two teens right now; Sophie was with one of their moms and a friend, and their other mom was working. They were casually chatting about anything they could do once Roman had fully recovered from his concussion, since… they really needed to do something to celebrate the fact that they would finally be free from high school. And a ruined school trip to Europe that turned out to be three days instead of the planned  _ two weeks  _ wasn’t nearly enough. 

But right that moment, both of their phones buzzed and Roman raised an eyebrow. 

“What is it?” Remus asked from the kitchen as his twin reached for his phone. 

Roman unlocked his phone and saw that Virgil had sent a message in the group chat they shared with their friends as well as Peter’s group of friends. 

It read a simple yet ominous  _ “are you guys seeing the news rn?” _

The teen frowned and grabbed the remote as he told this to his brother — normally, he would have used his telekinesis for that, but that had been ruled as an activity that was still too straining. Probably due to the fact that he still got a huge headache any time he tried to use his powers. 

Remus shared his brother’s frown and walked over to the living area with two glasses in his hand as he listened to the message on the television. Their phones buzzed a few times, telling them that several others had responded to the message as well. 

As the television turned on, it showed a video from none other than Quentin Beck. For a second, Roman thought he wasn’t dead after all, and  _ that  _ had been the shocking news Virgil wanted them to know about.. But then, he noticed that it had been shot on the floor of the bridge over the Tower Bridge, ruling that out. It had been shot last week then. 

“- attacked me for some reason,” Beck spoke to the camera, looking awfully panicked for a douchebag. “He has an army of weaponized drones, Stark technology. He’s saying he’s the only one who’s gonna be the next Iron Man, no one else.”

The teens shared a confused glance as the video glitched. Neither of them really seemed to know what was going on and what this video meant exactly. Or who Beck was talking about — although Roman felt like he could make a pretty good guess. 

As the video glitched, it changed slightly to show Peter behind Beck — or his legs, at least. A voice that seemed to ‘belong’ to an AI (even though Roman was fairly certain that wasn’t actually EDITH) asked Peter if he wanted to start a drone attack, telling him there would be significant casualties. To which Peter told ‘EDITH’ to “execute them all”, followed by sounds of shooting. 

Again, Roman and Remus shared a glance, Remus mouthing a ‘what the fuck’. Peter wouldn’t do something like that, so this was obviously a fake. Peter couldn’t do something like this and then pretend like nothing had happened. But who had done this and why was still a mystery to them. Roman couldn’t help but wonder if Beck had worked together with someone else, made a plan to make this happen in case he died. But there was still the question of how the hell did they film this? How did whoever edited this video receive it? What the hell had Beck been planning? How long had he been planning this?

“The shocking video was released earlier today on the controversial news website  _ thedailybugle.net _ ,” the news anchor said as the video stopped, making way for his face. 

The video then cut to footage from the Daily Bugle, where another anchor — J Jonah Jameson, nice alliteration — ranted about how it was Spider-Man that had been responsible for Beck’s death. Which was… not exactly true, but of course… that was not what this video wanted the viewer to believe. Whoever made this clearly wanted to frame Peter for this. 

Roman clenched his fists at Jameson calling Mysterio ‘the greatest superhero of all time’. If only there was a way that he could tell people that Beck was a fucking liar. That he had done nothing but lying to people and manipulating them to get what he wanted. That he had killed dozens of innocent people, just to look like the hero. That he had tried to kill  _ him  _ and his friends because they knew about his plans. But how would anyone believe him when he had no proof? Especially after this video. He had hoped that people would forget about Mysterio after all of this blew over. But with this video… he was starting to doubt that. 

Then, the video cut back to Beck (you see what I did there?), holding the camera in his hands. “Spider-Man’s real-” Beck cut himself off as he looked away for a second before going back to the camera. Roman sat up a little straighter, exchanging another look with Remus. “Spider-Man’s real name-” The video glitched and Roman bit his lip, hoping that Beck wasn’t going to do what he thought he was going to do. He probably was, though. “Spider-Man’s name is Peter Parker!” he finally called out, the video glitching before it turned to a picture of Peter. 

Oh, that son of a bitch.

“Did he-” Roman let out a sigh as the phone next to him started buzzing, as well as Remus’. This was bad. This was really bad. Peter was not only framed for this villain’s murder, who in turn made himself seem like the hero. But now he was also  _ exposed _ . Which did not only put him in danger, but also his aunt and his friends. That was bad. 

“I need to see Peter,” Roman said softly as he pushed himself up, making his way over to his room to grab his suit. He didn’t care if it would hurt him, he  _ had  _ to talk to him. 

“Not like that you’re not,” Remus said as he grabbed his brother’s wrist. “You’re gonna end up getting yourself killed and I don’t want to explain that to mom.”

“But-” 

“I’ll drive you over there,” he continued, already making his way over to the counter, where he grabbed the keys to the car the two of them shared. 

Roman gave his brother a small smile as he grabbed his shoes. “I’ll take it,” he said as he tried to put on his shoes. He knew that Remus wouldn’t settle for anything else, and maybe that was for the best. Roman wasn’t the best at self-care, so… yeah, it was definitely for the best. He probably  _ would  _ have gotten himself killed. “Some fresh air will probably do me good.”

Once the two of them were ready, they walked outside, and took the elevator to the garage so they could get in the car and drive off to Peter’s apartment. In the meantime, their group chat was literally about to explode. Peter himself had not responded yet, and neither had MJ, but the others all seemed to have seen it and they were all talking about it. Trying to figure out what to do, thinking of ways to prove Beck wrong. There had to be something they could do. They couldn’t let Beck get away with this.

It didn’t take long for them to get to the apartment building where Peter and his aunt lived. They made their way up to their apartment and Remus knocked, waiting. They didn’t have to wait too long until they heard footsteps approaching the door, the door opening soon after. 

“Hey guys,” May smiled at them. “Can I help you two?”

“Yeah, is Peter here?” Remus asked before Roman could speak up. “Roman wanted to talk to him.”

“I can speak for myself,” Roman chimed in. 

“You can’t, shut up.”

May chuckled softly but it was clear that she had questions as she looked between the twins. “Oh, well he isn’t here,” she responded. “He’s out with… MJ, that’s her name. You can come in, though. I think he’ll be back soon.”

Roman gave her a small smile as she stepped aside. “Thank you,” he said as he and his brother came into the small apartment. 

“How are you doing, Roman?” May asked, closing the door behind her. “Peter told me what happened, are you doing any better?”

“Yeah, definitely,” he said with a nod. “It’s still fuzzy and my powers still don’t quite work, but I’m doing better. Even though no one else will actually let me do anything.”

“Because we know you’re gonna get yourself killed if we let you do anything.”

Roman muttered something under his breath, but he knew that Remus had a point. Especially in this state… he wouldn’t be able to do too much. But still. He didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t do anything. He felt horrible just sitting inside doing nothing for this long. He wasn't used to that. 

“I get that,” May said as she walked up to the twins, gesturing for them to sit down on the couch. “You do need rest, though.”

As he sat down, Roman shot May a small smile. “I know, I know,” he said softly. “Trust me, my moms have made sure to remind me every chance they get.”

Pretty much from the moment they’d met, May seemed to have decided to adopt the twins. Hardly anything new for them at this point. After their moms and Tony and Pepper, this was already the third time. They were used to it by now. 

“You can never repeat it too often,” she smiled. “Can I get you two anything?”

“Just some water would be nice,” Roman told her, getting some agreeing hums from Remus.

May simply nodded and went to the kitchen to grab some water for the teens and herself. Then, she sat down on a chair. “So… what are you two here for? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

Roman looked at Remus, silently asking if they should tell her about it. He wasn’t sure if she had heard of what Beck did, and he wasn’t sure if they should  _ tell _ . Though it was likely that she would find out quickly, even if she didn’t know. Because they’d obviously be discussing this with Peter, and this situation involved her as well. She deserved to know. 

Remus seemed to be trying this exact same point, if the way he raised his eyebrow meant anything. And Roman wasn’t excited about it, but he knew his twin was right. So he sighed, looking at his hands before looking at May. “Have you seen the news?” he asked softly. 

May shook her head. “No,” she said. “Why? What happened?”

“They showed a video,” Roman continued hesitantly. “Of Beck, before he died. He- he framed Peter for his death, and… revealed his identity.”

There was a moment of silence between the three of them and Roman absolutely hated it. He just wanted to bring Beck back from the dead just to punch him for what he did to Peter. Even when he was dead, he was still messing with him. Peter didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve to have to deal with this. If Roman had to point at someone to deal with the situation, he’d rather it be him. Only to make sure that it wouldn’t be  _ Peter _ . 

“We’re gonna help him, though,” Roman continued, even if it was just to break that horrible silence. “I don’t know how, but we’re gonna do whatever we can to help.”

May nodded, obviously concerned for her nephew. And rightfully so; this was a situation that could very well end up  _ very  _ badly. Of course, Roman and his friends wanted to help and they were going to do everything in their power to make this better. But that wasn’t so easy. 

“Right,” she said softly. It was clear that she wasn’t sure what to say in a situation like this. It concerned her, obviously. And while she appreciated the fact that Roman and his friends wanted to help, they were  _ children.  _ They shouldn’t have to be dealing with any of this. None of this should be happening to them. If anything, it should be her protecting Peter from this, but she knew very well that she wasn’t in any position to do anything about this either. It was a bad situation all around. “Right. That’s… good. I-”

“May?” a voice then called out from a room further down the hallway. Peter, without a doubt. “May, I have to-” He stopped abruptly as he stepped into the living room, seeing two of his friends sitting there. “H- hey guys. What are you- why are you here?”

He was still in his Spider-Man suit, mask in his hand and hair clearly still messed up from the mask. He looked between the twins and his aunt, waiting for a reply.

“Have you seen the news?” Roman asked, for the second time that day. He was almost convinced that he wouldn’t have seen it, since he was out with MJ, so it came as a surprise when Peter nodded. “About Beck?”

“Yeah,” Peter confirmed softly, still confused. “Yeah, that’s why I’m… here, I-”

“Look,” Remus said a he got up, wrapping an arm around his friend’s shoulders. “Obviously, we know that Street Sharks is full of shit. So, we’re here to help. Somehow. And the others are there to help as well, obviously.”

“You guys really don’t have to-”

“Peter, I love you,” Roman interrupted his friend, “but the entire world now thinks that you killed someone they think is the greatest hero of all time. I think you’re gonna need all the help you can get.”

“Besides, it’s hardly a big deal,” Remus added. “Can’t let anyone hurt our Spider-Baby.”

Peter rolled his eyes and tried to hide a smile at Remus’ comment. He couldn’t say it wasn’t good to know his friends were by his side, but he didn’t want to put them through all that trouble just for him. 

“Thanks,” he said softly. It was obvious that he wouldn’t be able to convince the twins otherwise. He really did appreciate them and the help. 

“Of course,” Roman said. “We’re all in this together.”

Peter looked up at his friend with a confused pout. “Did you make a High School Musical reference?”

Roman chuckled, as if he didn’t just do that exact thing. “Just… enjoy the moment.”


End file.
